Online marketplace eBay is buying motors.co.uk website, putting themselves now in direct competition with Autotrader as the leading ad site for cars.
Under the premise of this new acquisition, Motors.co.uk will merge with Gumtree UK, which is also an eBay classified business.
Matt Barham, General Manager of Gumtree UK shared his thoughts regarding this purchase, stating the customer benefits which will be received from this merger:
“This acquisition would finally present a viable car selling and shopping alternative for car dealers and buyers,”.
“By combining Motors.co.uk’s extensive inventory, dealer engagements, traffic and cutting-edge tools and services with the considerable audience of in-market car buyers provided by eBay and Gumtree, this acquisition would give UK car dealers a significantly broader reach.”
The latest acquisition certainly strengthens the relationship built at the start of the year between eBay UK Motors and Gumtree UK motors. This partnership gives UK car dealers the opportunity to gain an extended reach to customers on both platforms and gives consumers access to more listings.
The Gumtree, Motors.co.uk and eBay group combined would offer over 620,000 car listings, in comparison to the 500,000 offered by Auto Trader. Subject to approval and all other regulatory requirements, the deal is expected to be completed by the start of 2019. Motors.co.uk is a subsidiary of Cox Automotive, it is one of the UK’s biggest dealer facing brands, with over 350,000 dealers selling their cars on the platform.
Martin Forbes, CEO of Cox Automotive, said:
“The whole team at Motors.co.uk has done an incredible job growing the business, and it isn’t surprising that it has attracted the attention of eBay, one of the world’s most well-known e-commerce companies. The deal with eBay is great news for Motors.co.uk and would enable the business, the brand and the team to grow under new ownership where the focus is more consumer-led.”
Through the purchase of Motors.co.uk, eBay will also gain access to the other websites in its network including Autovillage, Honest John, Parkers.co.uk, Topgear.com and Raccars.co.uk, which has a combined reach of around combined 5.4 million readers per month.