Carvana to Boost Capacity, Betting Online Car Sales Are Here to Stay
Used car dealer Carvana is investing $500 million in new facilities and hiring thousands of employees over the next two years.
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Used car dealer Carvana Co. is investing $500 million in new facilities and hiring thousands of employees, betting that recent consumer shifts toward buying vehicles online will outlast the pandemic.
Carvana and other online retailers have benefited from coronavirus-related lockdowns and a consumer shift toward e-commerce. The Tempe, Ariz.-based company, which has operated as an online retailer since it sold its first car eight years ago, sold 244,111 cars in 2020, up 37% compared with the prior year. Thatās in contrast to wider industry trends. Registrations for used carsāa proxy for salesādeclined 7% last year to 37.2 million compared with 2019, according to the National Automobile Dealers Association.
Carvana expects that demand for its services will remain high, even as the pandemic eventually abates. āA big part of it is the customer preference shift toward more comfort buying online, and thatās something we think will be here to stay,ā Chief Financial Officer Mark Jenkins said.