CAR Group Limited (formerly carsales.com Limited), known as CAR Group, is a global digital marketplace company operating primarily in

Oceania Oceania ( , ) is a region, geographical region including Australasia, Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia. Outside of the English-speaking world, Oceania is generally considered a continent, while Mainland Australia is regarded as its co ...

Asia Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which ...

and

The Americas The Americas, sometimes collectively called America, are a landmass comprising the totality of North America and South America.'' Webster's New World College Dictionary'', 2010 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio. When viewed as a sin ...

and is listed on the

Australian Securities Exchange Australian Securities Exchange Ltd (ASX) is an Australian public company that operates Australia's primary Exchange (organized market), securities exchange, the Australian Securities Exchange (sometimes referred to outside of Australia as, or c ...

. CAR Group has wholly owned digital marketplace businesses in Australia (carsales), South Korea (Encar), the United States (Trader Interactive) and Chile (chileautos) in addition to being a majority shareholder of webmotors in Brazil.

History

CAR Group, originally named carsales was established in 1997 and founded by Greg Roebuck and Wal Pisciotta in

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

with what was at the time just a small idea of moving print

classified advertisement Classified advertising is a form of advertising, particularly common in newspapers, online and other periodicals, which may be sold or distributed free of charge. Classified advertisements are much cheaper than larger display advertisements use ...

s for

motor vehicles A motor vehicle, also known as a motorized vehicle, automotive vehicle, automobile, or road vehicle, is a self-propelled land vehicle, commonly wheeled, that does not operate on rails (such as trains or trams), does not fly (such as airplanes ...

onto the internet. In October 2005, carsales acquired ACP Magazines' online classified businesses, including Carpoint.com.au, Boatpoint.com.au, Bikepoint.com.au, Ihub.com.au, and statistic company Equipment Research Group. In exchange, ACP's parent,

Publishing & Broadcasting Limited Publishing and Broadcasting Limited (PBL) was one of Australia's largest corporations. With interests primarily in media and gambling, for the entirety of its existence it was largely controlled by the Packer family. History Predecessors PB ...

, took a 41% stake in carsales. In August 2007 Red Book was purchased. In 2009, carsales was listed on the

. In 2010, Quicksales was purchased. In March 2011,

Nine Entertainment Nine Entertainment Co. Holdings Limited is an Australian publicly listed company with holdings in mass media radio and television broadcasting, publishing and digital media. It uses Nine as its corporate branding. The entity is largely a succ ...

, previously Publishing & Broadcasting Limited, sold its 49% shareholding in carsales. In March 2013, carsales purchased a 20% stake in ICar Asia, followed by a 30% shareholding in webmotors of Brazil from

Banco Santander Banco Santander S.A. trading as Santander Group ( , , ), is a Spanish multinational financial services company based in Santander, with operative offices in Madrid. Additionally, Santander maintains a presence in most global financial centres ...

the next month. In April 2023, carsales acquired a further 40% stake in webmotors. In March 2014, a 49% share of SK Encar, Korea was purchased from SK C&C. The remaining 51% was purchased in 2016. In 2016, soloautos of Mexico and chileautos of Chile were purchased. In 2021, carsales acquired a 49% stake in Trader Interactive, a non-auto marketplace group in the United States. The remaining 51% stake was acquired in 2022. In 2023, carsales.com Limited was renamed to CAR Group Limited to better reflect the growth and scale of the business outside of Australia. The company’s Australian entity and classified site remains known as carsales, but the entity listed on the Australian Securities Exchange, which owns and controls marketplaces in Australia, Brazil, Chile, South Korea and the U.S., is now known as CAR Group.Change of company name and amended constitution
Carsales 1 November 2023

References

{{S&P/ASX 200 Auto dealerships of Australia Companies based in Melbourne Companies listed on the Australian Securities Exchange Internet properties established in 1997 Nine Entertainment Online marketplaces of Australia Retail companies established in 1997 1997 establishments in Australia