Singapore’s Carro enters Australia market with acquisition of used-car platform CarPlace

[SINGAPORE] Online automotive marketplace Carro said on Thursday (Jun 18) that it has acquired Australian used-car platform CarPlace.

The Singapore-headquartered company did not disclose the size of its stake in CarPlace nor the value of the deal, with the move marking its entry into its eighth market in the Asia-Pacific.

CarPlace is operated by Autoleague, which Carro described as “one of Australia’s largest automotive groups".

Autoleague “remains a strategic shareholder of CarPlace and joins Carro as a strategic investor”, it added.

As part of the deal, Carro will “take over showrooms in Western Australia and Queensland”, as well as roll out wholesale operations from the state of Victoria.

Aaron Tan, co-founder and CEO of Carro, previously said that the company was acquiring a “sizeable” local automotive business in Australia; he said then that the deal was expected to close before the end of 2025.

He noted that Australia is “one of the largest used-car markets” in the Asia-Pacific, with a “consistent annual sales volume of 2.3 million used cars” and “fast-growing” electric vehicle penetration.

This figure is about the total of South-east Asia’s volume, the Carro co-founder said.

“It is also a geographically sparse, homogenous market with a lot of EV growth – which makes Australia very attractive from our point of view,” he told The Business Times.

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Tan said that many Singaporean and Asean players have done well in the Australia, considering that it is a market with not that much “protectionism… in the same way that many Chinese EVs have done well and taking market share there”.

Founded in 2015, Carro has more than 4,500 employees in the Asia-Pacific.

In 2025, it expanded its product line to include brand-new cars in Singapore and Malaysia.

The company said it has raised over S$700 million from the Softbank Vision Fund and “several sovereign funds”.

In September 2025, it raised US$60 million in a funding round led by Cool Japan Fund.

Wholesale operations growth

Carro also expects to grow its wholesale operations as "one of the few Asia-Pacific players capable of serving the Japan-Australia import corridor”.

“We’re confident in our strong wholesales capabilities,” said Tan, adding that this comes as a result of Carro’s presence in Japan, which puts it “in a very strong position” to bring in popular pre-owned and brand-new Japanese models.

Additional reporting by Derryn Wong