News Coverage
Part II: Auto wholesale ‘is going digital,’ but big role for brick-and-mortar
Friday February 1, 2019
Article Highlights
- Grace Huang, who is president of the Cox Automotive Inventory Solutions group that includes the Manheim auctions, said she sees a lot of opportunity for auto auctions when it comes to servicing new partners like mobility fleets.
- Last month, the Cox Automotive Mobility Group launched a new brand called Pivet that will provide a network of end-to-end mobility fleet services.
- That network will include both physical locations and mobile vehicle management solutions, and the initial flagship hub location is Manheim Metro Atlanta, which was previously an auto auction.
Auto Remarketing, Feb. 1, 2019 — In Part 11 of the Auto Remarketing article, “Auto wholesale ‘is going digital,’ but big role for brick-and-mortar,” Grace Huang, who is president of the Cox Automotive Inventory Solutions group that includes the Manheim auctions, said she sees a lot of opportunity for auto auctions when it comes to servicing new partners like mobility fleets.
“I believe the auction industry is well positioned in the fleet world. As we think about the needs of the future fleets, it’s the same things that we’ve been doing since the beginning of Manheim: reconditioning the vehicle, cleaning it, storing it, changing out tires, doing mechanical work,” she said. “These are all things that we’ve done and increasingly, we’re seeing more and more clients ask for those services that are not attached to the buy and sell.”
Manheim sees a future where there are a “longtail of dealers that still want to come to the auction — which would be great,” Huang said. “But we believe more and more space will be used to help new emerging companies in this fleet space manage their vehicles.”
Similarly, a digital wholesale environment still has use for brick-and-mortar auction locations. In fact, it was a “huge January” for Manheim with cars coming into the auctions, Huang said.