Ebay to buy Motors.co.uk; Auto Trader slumps

Ebay has agreed to buy UK-based classifieds site Motors.co.uk from Cox Automotive.

As part of the deal, for which no financial details were provided, Motors.co.uk would become part of Gumtree UK.

Ebay said that combining the inventory, customer relationships and traffic available on Gumtree UK, Ebay Motors UK and Motors.co.uk, along with Motors.co.uk’s tools and services, would help UK car dealers increase their leads and bring buyers more choice and value.

The acquisition would also jointly position Motors.co.uk, Gumtree UK, and Ebay Motors UK as a "leading alternative" to the current UK motors market leader.

At 1240 BST, shares in Auto Trader, the UK's current motors market leader, were down 390.70p.

Matt Barham, general manager of Gumtree UK, said: "By combining Motors.co.uk’s extensive inventory, dealer engagements, traffic and cutting-edge tools and services with the considerable audience of in-market car buyers provided by Ebay and Gumtree, this acquisition would give UK car dealers a significantly broader reach."

Motors.co.uk, a subsidiary of Cox Automotive, is one of the UK’s largest dealer-facing brands with more than 350,000 used car listings on its platform. Its suite of tools is tailored specifically to the automotive vertical, helping over 5,000 of the UK’s leading automotive dealers to sell their cars, utilise buyer data in marketing and pricing decisions and expand reach through a large syndication network.

Neil Wilson, chief market analyst at Markets.com, said: "Auto Trader still occupies the top spot as far a brand goes - it's synonymous with used cars. So while clearly a bigger single threat, it's really just a combination of existing competitors."