Cazoo promises 'best car buying experience' as it launches in Spain

Cazoo has completed the launch of its online used car retail and vehicle subscription offering to the Spanish market, promising to offer “the best car buying experience to consumers”.

The New York Stock Exchange-listed car retailer, founded by Alex Chesterman OBE back in 2018, launches in its new market with the aid of market exposure through a high-profile sponsorship deals with Serie A football clubs Real Sociedad and Valencia.

It also acquired Barcelona-based car subscription service Swipcar in November last year.

Commenting on its official launch in Spain – following its 2021 launches in France and Germany, respectively – Chesterman said: “We are very excited to launch in Spain, following our recent launches in both France and Germany at the end of last year.

“We have reimagined car buying to make it simple and convenient whilst to give consumers total peace of mind when buying their next car.

“With Cazoo, you can purchase a used car entirely online, have it delivered to your door in a few days and have up to a week to make sure you love it.

“We have a great team in Spain and look forward to delivering the best car buying experience to consumers across the Spanish market.”

Cazoo enters the Spanish market with a promise to provide car buyers with better choice, value, transparency, convenience and peace of mind when buying their next vehicle.

It promises delivery “in just a few days” and a seven-day money-back guarantee if customers don’t like their choice of vehicle.

Cazoo has sold over 65,000 cars in the UK since its launch just over two years ago and its targeting revenues of £2bn on the back of 100,000 used car sales in 2022 on the way to a long-term target of £15bn in revenues.

A recent Q1 trading update revealed that it was struggling to improve profitability in its pursuit of growth, however.

Revenues rose 159% year-on-year to a record £295m in the period after sales volumes rose 102% (to 19,713) but gross profit per unit declined 19% to £124 and Cazoo's overall gross profit declined 2% to £2m.

Cazoo stated in its 2021 annual financial results that it was targeting gross profit per unit to £900 this year, with a longer-term goal of reaching £3,000pu.

Commenting in Cazoo’s Q1 trading update, Chesterman said that he was “extremely pleased” with the business’s record Q1 revenues and unit sales and highlighted plans to ramp up reconditioning capacity to deliver further growth and “allow us to continue our progress towards our long-term market share ambitions.”