C.J. Moore

The auto industry, just like the news business, involves many deadlines. Publicly traded companies are required to disclose earnings at specific intervals. Dealers impose deadlines to turn inventory. And the industry as a whole is driven by deadlines to meet consumers' demands.

Consumers are still buying used cars, but it's now on a need basis, not on a whim basis. That's a taste of what we have for readers this week.

CarMax, formerly the longtime leader of Automotive News' annual ranking of the top 100 U.S. dealership groups by used-vehicle sales volume, moves over to a new list.

Shortt said the company didn't set a target for sales in 2023, instead focusing on buying vehicles, selling them while reducing costs in several areas.

Retailers grappled in their latest quarters with many factors impacting used-vehicle businesses: tighter availability of late-model used-vehicle inventory, heavier acquisition activity at wholesale auctions by rental car companies and increased consumer demand for affordable vehicles.

Wholesale used-vehicle prices are expected to gradually cool through the rest of the year after unseasonably appreciating to start 2023.

Caution is the word on the used-vehicle side. Though demand was healthy through the 2023 spring selling season, gone is the level it was at in 2021.

The company said its board did not set a timetable for a completion of the review process. There is "no assurance" it will result in a transaction or other alternative.

The retailer expects its gross profit per vehicle to improve in the second half of the year as it sells a higher mix of newer inventory, CEO Tom Shortt said.

For now, Carvana appears able to "avoid the doomsday scenario that so many have been predicting," analysts for Piper Sandler wrote.

The online used-vehicle retailer reported a net loss of $286 million for the quarter ended March 31, smaller than its loss of $506 million in the year-earlier period. Revenue fell 25 percent to $2.6 billion.

The company expects its used-vehicle volume to land between 76,000 and 79,000 vehicles in the three months ending March 31, down about a quarter from a year earlier, according to a preliminary estimate it provided in a March 22 regulatory filing.

KAR Global's corporate name will change to Openlane on May 15, and the rebranded company will keep trading under the ticker symbol "KAR" on the New York Stock Exchange, according to a news release.

The reduction is included as part of an "organizational restructuring" that Vroom has implemented amid a reexamination of "all facets of the business," the company said in a regulatory filing.

Dealership groups on Automotive News' annual ranking focused strongly on used-vehicle operations in 2022, seeking trade-ins and buying directly from consumers to pad used inventories and sustain sales.