Cazoo model purchased by secondhand automobile platform Motors

Vehicle search platform Motors has bought Cazoo brand for an undisclosed sum after the used car operator fell into administration last month.

The online classifieds marketplace on Friday said it would launch a new Cazoo app in the next few weeks, followed by a website containing over 250,000 secondhand vehicle listings.

Motors said it wanted to create ‘a fresh approach to searching for cars’ and attract a larger number of automobile buyers with the acquisition.

However, the buyer has only acquired the Cazoo brand – not the entire business. 

Acquisition: Vehicle search platform Motors has bought Cazoo for an undisclosed sum

Formerly Motors.co.uk, the firm was started in 2007 by MailOnline’s parent company, Daily Mail & General Trust, as a website for car buyers. It was sold three years later to Cox Automotive.

Silicon Valley giant eBay bought Motors in 2019 before selling it two years later, along with Gumtree UK, to private equity groups O3 Industries and Novum Capita.

Barry Judge, chief executive of Motors, said: ‘We have the expertise and inventory to immediately establish the new Cazoo site as a modern marketplace for used cars.

‘We will build on the excitement and engagement that the Cazoo brand has already created with consumers to deliver more sales enquiries for our dealer partners.’

Cazoo was founded in 2018 by Zoopla and LoveFilm founder Alex Chesterman, who modelled the business on Carvana, the American retailer known for housing cars in glass tower vending machines.

The group’s sales skyrocketed after pandemic-related restrictions temporarily closed vehicle dealerships, driving more consumers to buy cars solely online.

Growth was further spearheaded by microchip shortages that hampered production and increased the cost of secondhand vehicles.

It became the fastest British company to reach unicorn status and was listed on the New York Stock Exchange three years ago with a £6billion valuation.

However, Cazoo struggled with massive losses, posting £550million in 2021 and  £704million in 2022, and it was forced to make significant redundancies and shut operations in Europe.

Problems were aggravated by consumer cost-of-living pressures and the group spending huge sums on sponsoring sporting teams and organisations, such as football sides Aston Villa and Everton, and the World Snooker Championship.

Chesterman resigned as chief executive early last year to become chairman before quitting the firm for good in December.

In March, the group announced it would sell off used car stock and transition into a car marketplace, which allows consumers to trade cars under a single brand.

Cazoo called in administrators two months later, having cut hundreds of jobs as part of this transformation and sold its whole vehicle inventory.