COX Automotive and Autotrader are combining forces to create a new automotive wholesale marketplace.

The joint venture will be called Dealer Auction, a digital marketplace for wholesale vehicles.

The online auction service will be co-owned by both companies and run by Le Etta Pearce, having held senior roles within both Auto Trader and Cox Automotive.

Dealer Auction says it will provide fleet companies, manufacturers and retailers with a more efficient and convenient way to dispose of their stock of vehicles.

And the benefit to retailers will be to gain access to a more comprehensive stock of vehicles to buy.

The JV Agreement is conditional upon clearance from the Competition and Markets Authority in the UK.

Subject to clearance, the new business will combine three businesses onto a single platform.

Cox Automotive will transfer its Dealer-Auction.com and Manheim Online businesses to the joint venture.

Auto Trader will transfer Smart Buying (formally known as Autotrade-mail), its retailer-to-retailer platform.

Martin Forbes, Chief Executive Officer of Cox Automotive in the UK, said:

“The next five years will see an unprecedented level of change in our industry, driven by the ever-increasing influence of digital.

“Cox Automotive is already providing our customers with choice through our wholesale digital platforms of Dealer-Auction.com and Manheim Online, as well as physical auctions and vehicle services via Manheim.

“Cox Automotive and Auto Trader have a shared vision to transform the wholesale automotive market in the UK for the benefit of our current and future customers.

“Our core strengths are extremely complementary, and we believe that Auto Trader’s digital and data expertise combined with Cox Automotive’s wholesale channels
and vehicle handling capabilities will deliver a market-changing B2B platform.
We are confident that this will be a long term and very successful partnership.”

Auto Trader Chief Executive Officer, Trevor Mather, added:

“The way in which vehicles currently move around the UK automotive ecosystem is overly complex and inefficient, and Auto Trader has
the digital and data assets that can make it a quicker, more convenient and cheaper process for all parties.

“However, we know that we will have an even better chance of disrupting the market by partnering with an established player which knows this particular industry intimately.”