Motorway is targeting its first profitable year in 2026 as it expands into fleet remarketing and introduces artificial intelligence tools designed to help dealers acquire used vehicles more efficiently.
Speaking exclusively to Automotive Management, co-founder and chief executive Tom Leathes says the online vehicle marketplace is entering a new phase of growth, with investment increasingly focused on reducing the cost and complexity of acquiring used stock.
The company is also moving beyond its established consumer-to-dealer model, competing more directly with traditional auction operators through a partnership with Mobilize Financial Services.
“We are very much on track for our plans for this year,” says Leathes, reaffirming Motorway’s ambition to achieve profitability in 2026.
The target follows several years of investment, with Motorway’s 2025 pre-tax loss narrowing to £25.3 million from £37.3m the previous year, while revenue increased to around £78m.
Leathes says the company’s recent fundraising had been necessary to accommodate rapid growth, recalling a period when consumers faced waits of up to 45 minutes to speak to its team on the telephone. “We realised we had something that was genuinely changing how people were buying cars,” he says.
However, the emphasis has now shifted towards building a financially sustainable business. “We don’t want to be burning money forever. We need to become a profitable business for the long term,” Leathes admits.
AI-powered WhatsApp assistant
One of Motorway’s most significant developments is Oto, its AI-powered WhatsApp assistant, launched in October to help dealers find relevant vehicles without continually searching auction listings. Around 30% of Motorway’s network of more than 8,000 dealers is already using the service, according to Leathes.
The technology responds to requests for specific makes, models and specifications, while learning individual dealers’ purchasing preferences and actively recommending suitable stock.
With approximately 2,500 vehicles appearing in a typical daily auction, Leathes believes the ability to identify opportunities quickly could transform purchasing behaviour. “It’s both a push of recommendations and a place they can ask questions,” he says.
Leathes also revealed that some retailers are developing their own AI systems, combining dealership inventory, retail market valuations and Motorway listings to calculate accurate bidding prices.
“We’re seeing dealers build their own tools, which will pull data from their own stock, from retail data, from Motorway, and it’ll then pull our stock list and suggest prices based on their margin profile,” he said, adding that Motorway intends to introduce similar capabilities for dealers without the resources to develop their own technology.
Fleet remarketing challenge
Motorway’s expansion into enterprise remarketing represents a potentially more fundamental challenge to the established used vehicle supply chain.
Its partnership with Mobilize Financial Services will enable end-of-contract leasing and finance vehicles to be offered directly to dealers before being physically returned.
“This is very new for us. The first time we’re directly competing with the BCAs and the traditional auction groups, but doing it in a very different way than they,” Leathes says.
Under the conventional process, returned vehicles may pass through collection, storage, inspection and auction facilities before reaching a purchasing dealership meaning leasing companies can wait around 60 days between a contract ending and disposing of the vehicle.
Motorway’s alternative allows customers to create detailed vehicle profiles through a co-branded app, uploading 16 photographs alongside condition and service history information. Vehicles can then be advertised to dealers while still with their existing keepers.
While physical inspections remain essential to protecting dealer margins, particularly where undisclosed damage could undermine a vehicle’s profitability, AI-assisted vehicle profiling is being developed to identify scratches, dents and other damage that sellers may overlook when photographing their cars.
Following a successful sale and physical inspection, the car can be transported directly to the purchasing dealership, potentially removing storage and handling costs.
Motorway expects to increase volumes and recruit additional leasing partners during 2027. However, Leathes acknowledges that established auction operators benefit from longstanding relationships with major fleet and leasing providers.”BCA is an enormous business, and often these leasing relationships are like multi-year relationships.”
Motorway Pay aims for simplicity
Motorway has also invested heavily in its payment infrastructure to simplify transactions, particularly for larger dealer groups acquiring vehicles at scale.
Motorway Pay replaces the need for dealers to arrange individual payments with sellers by allowing funds to be deposited into a central wallet and released as transactions progress.
Leathes says developing the infrastructure had effectively required the business to establish its own financial technology operation, supported by security testing, auditing and transaction monitoring.
Dealer margins remain ultimate test
Ultimately, Leathes believes Motorway’s success will depend on whether it consistently delivers better commercial outcomes than alternative stock acquisition channels.
Dealers increasingly have the data to compare sourcing costs, preparation expenditure and eventual retail margins across different suppliers and Motorway’s ambition is to become one of their most profitable sources of used vehicles, rather than simply another marketplace.
For Leathes, that means combining access to privately owned vehicles with more accurate data, faster purchasing processes and lower administrative costs.
The commercial test will be whether those efficiencies translate into stronger dealer margins while delivering Motorway’s own long-awaited profitability.