Motorway has asserted that it has “significant funding reserves” to drive further growth after more than doubling its used car sales revenues to £1.7 billion in 2022.

The automotive marketplace, which allows car retailers to bid on cars sold by private customers in an online process resulting in collection from their home or workplace, said in a statement issued this morning that its acceleration in growth had made it the “go-to platform to transact online”.

Over 1,000 cars were transacted on the website each day, with over one million motorists engaging with the site each month in 2022, Motorway claimed.

And retailers have embraced the stocking source in a time of used car shortages, with the number of verified dealers in Motorway’s nationwide network up from 3,000 to over 5,000 last year. 

Motorway chief executive Tom Leathes, who was interviewed  by AM shortly before the business’ 2017 UK launch and later profiled in a '10 Minutes With...' Q&A, said: “Our growth this year is testament to both the great team we have built and our commitment to providing a better way to transact for car owners and dealers.

“Selling a car has always been hard, but we’re creating a new set of expectations - a great deal with a seamless user experience where everyone in the transaction wins.

“In a highly unpredictable market, our marketplace model means that even in rapidly-changing dynamics, we’re able to secure the best deal reliably for sellers and dealers, and at ever-increasing scale.

“Our customer-first approach has paid off - more people than ever before are now coming to Motorway to sell their cars, which means in turn we are able to offer more used car stock to our dealer network, and to continue growing efficiently.”

Since Motorway’s 2017 launch as a rival to Constellation Automotive’s WeBuyAnyCar, carwow has also ramped-up its car buying platform with the help of a £41.5m funding round to help upscale its Sell Your Car division.

To support its rapid growth Motorway increased its workforce from 227 to more than 400 in 2022 while retaining an 'Excellent' rating by Trustpilot with over 40,000 reviews.

In 2021 Motorway set its sights on “further massive opportunity” in the automotive retail sector after achieving ‘unicorn’ status with a $1 billion (£750m) valuation.

The business is now anticipating further rapid growth in sales and revenue in 2023. 

Its statement said that it had “significant funding reserves to drive its onward growth and innovation” after a £48m funding round in summer 2021 was followed by completion of a Series C investment round of over $190m (around £153.6m) in November that same year, from global technology investors including Index Ventures and ICONIQ Growth.

It also continues to drive its profile through television advertising and its continued sponsorship of the Rugby Six Nations coverage on ITV, which gets underway in February. 

Leathes said: “We are delighted with the great results last year, but we won’t be resting on our laurels in 2023.  Our customers can expect to see even more innovation from us this year, as we deliver even better ways to improve the car-selling and car-buying experience.”