Carsales.com owner sees big potential in driving AI use
Australia’s most popular vehicle sales platform has revealed it sees big things for AI after recording double-digit revenue and earnings growth.
CAR Group, which operates Carsales.com and other vehicle sales marketplaces in nine countries including the United States and China, had revenue of $626 million in the six months to December 31, up 13 percent on a constant currency basis.
Adjusted net profit after tax rose 12 percent to $177 million, prompting CAR Group to raise its interim dividend by 10 percent to 42.5 cents per share.
RBC Capital Markets analyst Wei-Weng Chen said it was a “largely uneventful” set of results, but in light of the massive underperformance in the market, investors will likely consider it a win and move on.
CAR Group shares rose 10.7 percent to $27.11 by midday Monday, but the stock was still down 29.3 percent over the past 12 months.
CAR Group is using advanced technology, particularly artificial intelligence, to improve performance across the group, chief executive William Elliot told analysts on a conference call.
“We are increasing efficiency, which allows us to invest in new growth opportunities while maintaining high margins,” he said.
The new “conversational voice” search function, recently available to iOS users, makes searching for a new vehicle intuitive and natural, Mr. Elliot said, adding that the technology will come to Android soon.
“This is just the beginning in our use of voice-based chat calling, and we see this as a significant opportunity to improve the customer experience,” he said.
It also said it uses artificial intelligence to provide dealers with information about pricing trends, inventory velocity and buyer behavior.
He said that artificial intelligence was used in Korea to reduce inspection times by half, from 30 minutes to 15 minutes.
While Mr. Elliot said it was difficult to isolate his company’s spending on artificial intelligence, he said it was an increasing share of its $120 million annual investment in software development.
The company has opened an AI center in Brazil, where it has a “strong pipeline of incredible talent” to create AI agents and distribute them across the company’s global markets.
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