The used automobile industry is booming, and it appears as though General Motors is positioning a new website named CarBravo to compete directly with used vehicle marketplaces like Carvana. GM is now accepting dealer registrations for the site, which is scheduled to open in “spring 2022,” according to a news release.
CarBravo will allow consumers to browse inventories from both dealers and GM’s central used vehicle inventory, as well as non-GM used automobiles, according to Steve Carlisle, GM’s executive vice president and head of GM North America. This may enable it to compete more effectively with Carvana (which recently revealed it had sold one million automobiles) and other sites such as CarMax and Vroom, which allow users to shop across multiple car brands.
With the rise of direct-to-consumer brands such as Tesla and Lucid undermining the more traditional dealership/franchisee model, CarBravo may be a method for GM to test the direct-to-consumer waters. However, the business has previously failed with bets such as its Maven car-sharing program, and it will be interesting to see if CarBravo can break through against some of the more well-known online used car marketplaces.
