General Motors’ new CarBravo platform allows dealerships to sell certified used vehicles of all makes online, but it also replaces GM’s traditional certified pre-owned program for stores that choose to use it. Other automakers are likely to follow the strategy, one expert says.
“It just makes sense,” said Jonathan Banks, vice president of vehicle valuations at J.D. Power. “We have been talking about, how can OEMs partner with dealers to optimize the used-vehicle experience? This is a good way to do that without infringing on dealers’ ability to run their business as they’d like to.”
CPO sales make up only a sliver of the 40 million-unit used-vehicle market. Dealers sold about 2.75 million CPO vehicles last year, up about 5 percent from 2020 and down about 2 percent from 2019, according to J.D. Power. But 16 percent of all used vehicles sold through franchised dealerships were CPO. With CarBravo, GM aims to broaden its CPO share for Chevrolet, Buick and GMC by allowing consumers to view inventory from dealerships beyond their area and by expanding to non-GM brands and company-owned vehicles.
“It should increase sales for certified vehicles because the scale of CarBravo is a lot bigger than what the dealer would traditionally have,” Banks said. “Certified vehicles do better than noncertified from both days to turn [and] from gross profit. Having all your vehicles certified and having this platform to distribute them should be a boon for certification overall.”