Work never ends for used car giant after $120m sale
A young entrepreneur says there’s still great potential in the used car empire he built and it won’t go anywhere, even though he sold it for $120 million.
Matt Wright sold MCT Automotive Group, owner of the car website Cars4Us, to Toyota Tsusho Corporation for a hefty sum just six years after founding the company.
The business has ballooned from its humble beginnings in Brisbane, with four people working in a warehouse that could hold seven cars, to delivering around 4000 vehicles a week, with steady annual revenues of around $500 million.
What started as a wholesale operation quickly expanded into sales and trade-ins to the public, with a commitment to offering people more for their old cars than regular dealerships, while capitalizing on the increasingly digital habits of car buyers.
“When we started, the largest online car buying company was buying 60, 70 cars a week. We got there within 60 days,” Mr Wright told AAP.
“Fast forward to today, six years later, on a bad week we buy 350 vehicles, but realistically we buy 400 to 450 vehicles a week.”
The flagship at Brisbane Eagle Farm has swelled to accommodate nearly 1000 cars, the second largest in Australia.
MCT’s scale aims to potentially condense the car-buying experience into a single trip, while its turnover rate supports competitive pricing.
“Usually when you’re trying to buy a car, it’s a Saturday, four dealerships are written down, you spend an hour at each dealership, going back and forth between each one. It’s a nightmare,” Mr. Wright said.
“What we like to do is bring people in and you stay with us and if you don’t like the car you came in to buy, we have three, four, five other versions or combinations of that car.”
Mr Wright came to Australia from England as a 20-year-old backpacker and quickly fell in love with the country.
“I was stunned and couldn’t imagine wanting to spend my life anywhere else,” she said.
“Being on your own on the other side of the world really accelerated lifelong learning, and that’s probably why I became successful in business, perhaps at an earlier age than most.”
Another key to Mr. Wright’s performance is his work ethic, and like many founders, he regularly works 80 to 100 hours a week.
“With the good people around me and the continued support of a growing team of good leaders in the industry, I have learned to refocus and adjust what I spend that time on,” he said.
“But I would say the workload never really changes.”
Despite his $120 million windfall, Mr. Wright will continue to do his best to assist in the transfer of the Toyota Group to its Tokyo Stock Exchange-listed arm, Toyota Tsusho.
“I’m excited to stay on and help drive the business over the next few years; whether I sell or not, I want nothing more than to see the company reach its potential within the group,” he said.
“It may be the largest retail site on the east coast, it may be the largest buyer of cars in the country, but it really has the potential to be much more than that.”
Beyond this particular horizon, the future may be uncertain, but the young entrepreneur knows one thing for sure: there is more work to be done.
“I certainly don’t envision a life that doesn’t include running more businesses, running my own business, but I’m totally committed to these guys for a number of years,” Mr. Wright said.
“My dad is 75 and still working, you know? I’ll do the same.”
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