The Quiet Acquisition of Discount Vehicles Australia
Recently the online automotive classifieds market in Australia was reduced by one player.
Carsales.com.au acquired Discount Vehicles Australia (publishers of discountusedcars.com.au, discountnewcars.com.au and some other smaller lead generation domains).
I say the acquisition was quiet because there was none of the typical press release newsflashes appearing on the usual IT and news sites here down under. In fact I had only heard about it through an industry contact and only found some information when searching specifically for the news. From mellor.net :
AUSTRALIA’S leading automotive website carsales.com.au has purchased 100 per cent of Discount Vehicles Australia, the operator of Australia’s leading online new-car leads generator, for an undisclosed sum.
Maybe it was a quiet announcement because it was an “undisclosed sum”?
The discountnewcars.com.au website still states that it is run by “Discount Vehicles Australia Pty Ltd”, so it may be that Carsales acquired the company in whole, not just the assets and explains the following quote :
Under the deal, Discount Vehicles Australia will remain a separate entity and operate independently of Carsales.
So, the market consolidates a little more.
This leaves Carsales as the clear number one with well over 1.4 million visitors per month. Still close enough to be big competition are autotrader.com.au (Sensis), drive.com.au (Fairfax), carsguide.com.au (News Ltd).
Rumour in these circles suggests that there could be some more aggressive tactics in the market this year as the top players jostle for position. I don’t think any of them want to get left behind as online classifieds continues to build momentum, and more advertising dollars each year find their way onto classified sites.
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