Auto1: EU-sed Car Marketplace - [Business Breakdowns, EP.246]
Today, we are breaking down Auto1, and this is an interesting episode because we are tackling a business that most US listeners will not be familiar with, even though it resembles names they already know well. Our guest is Harrison Moot, co-founder and CIO of Sandstone, who walks us through Europe's largest vertically integrated online marketplace for used cars. Auto1 is often shorthanded as the Carvana of Europe, and the comparison directionally fits, but the differences are what make the company worth understanding on its own terms. The core of the conversation is how Harrison frames the company. He argues that Auto1 is best understood as a pan-European clearing house for used vehicles rather than a dealer with a website, and that the model only works because the company built its consumer sourcing engine and its wholesale dealer liquidity for nearly a decade before ever launching the consumer retail business. Owning the sourcing, logistics, refurbishment, and financing stack across thirty fragmented national markets gives Auto1 a pricing and routing advantage that local dealers and asset-light classifieds cannot replicate. Please enjoy this Breakdown of Auto1. For the full show notes, transcript, and links to the best content to learn more, check out the episode page here. ----- Become a Colossus member to get our quarterly print magazine and private audio experience, including exclusive profiles and early access to select episodes. Subscribe at colossus.com/subscribe. ----- This episode is brought to you by Portrait Analytics - your centralized resource for AI-powered idea generation, thesis monitoring, and personalized report building. Built by buy-side investors, for investment professionals. We work in the background, helping surface stock ideas and thesis signposts to help you monetize every insight. In short, we help you understand the story behind the stock chart, and get to "go, or no-go" 10x faster than before. Sign-up for a free trial today at portraitresearch.com ----- Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here. ----- Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant (https://thepodcastconsultant.com). Timestamps (00:00:00) Welcome to Business Breakdowns (00:03:35) Auto1 Business Overview (00:07:06) European Market & C2B Model (00:12:31) Founding Story & Sequencing (00:16:39) Why Cazoo Failed (00:16:42) Cazoo vs. Auto1 Approach (00:18:29) How a Transaction Works (00:22:11) Dealer Buying Patterns (00:25:49) Retail vs. Wholesale (00:26:18) Consumer Financing & ABS (00:27:57) ABS Lowers Funding Costs (00:28:16) Unit Economics by Segment (00:32:37) Network Effects & Data Moat (00:37:35) Path to Margin Expansion (00:42:23) Balance Sheet & Working Capital (00:44:40) Four Growth Levers (00:48:27) Dealers: Customers Not Competitors (00:53:17) Four Key Business Risks (00:54:12) Inventory Risk & Mitigants (00:58:32) Valuation Framework & Multiples (01:03:14) Vertical Integration & Capital Cycles