Vehicle listings company TrueCar has acquired online dealer sales platform Digital Motors in a move to bolster the company's launch of its new digital retailing service, TrueCar+.
Digital Motors, a software company based in Irvine, Calif., that serves dealers looking for online retailing support, launched its flagship product earlier than planned, in March 2020. It soon caught on with dealers looking to take advantage of pandemic-fueled consumer interest in online automotive retailing.
Terms of the deal weren't disclosed.
Digital Motors CEO Andreas Hinrichs said in a news release Monday that his company's "transactional focus" will pair well with TrueCar+.
"We are excited to join TrueCar and help support the expansion of TrueCar+, making online car buying a delightful, empowering and efficient experience for all parties involved," Hinrichs said.
TrueCar said in May it was exploring acquisition options, touting funds to do so via the company's $234.8 million in assets and no debt on its first-quarter balance sheet. It was specifically looking for deals that could serve as "tuck-in opportunities" with TrueCar+.
"Our acquisition of Digital Motors is a key step in the acceleration of that marketplace, providing immediate access to new capabilities to enable the development of a secure online purchasing and financing experience," TrueCar CEO Mike Darrow said in the release.
Alain Nana-Sinkam, TrueCar senior vice president of business development, told Automotive News that the company has already begun implementing Digital Motors into the TrueCar+ apparatus.
"We are hard at work at building some integrations with some of the key functionality on the Digital Motors platform that accelerates what we want to accomplish with TrueCar+," Nana-Sinkam said.
Digital Motors' experience in the automotive e-commerce sector is also important to TrueCar, as it aims to streamline the vehicle buying experience on TrueCar+.
"Everybody loves an easier deal. Everybody loves a faster deal," Nana-Sinkam said. "So being able to create solutions that bring efficiency to the car buying process is something that everybody can get behind, whether you're a dealer, or a customer, or a lender or a service protection product provider."
TrueCar shares were essentially unchanged on Tuesday, trading at $3.24.
