Carmel-based KAR to change its name to OpenLane

Carmel-based KAR Auction Services Inc. is changing its corporate name to OpenLane Inc. effective May 15 and will also use the OpenLane name for its online used-vehicle marketplaces in the U.S., Canada and Europe, the company announced Tuesday.

The rebranding does not include KAR’s financing company, AFC, which will continue under its current name. And KAR said its common stock will continue to trade under its current ticker symbol, KAR.

If OpenLane sounds familiar, that’s because KAR has been using the name for a portion of its business for more than a decade. In 2011, KAR acquired OpenLane Inc., a California-based online auto auction company, for $210 million.

After the acquisition, KAR retained the OpenLane brand name, which is one of several names under which KAR operates its online vehicle marketplaces. With the rebranding, all the marketplaces will begin operating under the OpenLane brand.

“Our vision is to build the world’s greatest digital marketplace for used vehicles, and we are advancing that vision by bringing together all of our sellers, buyers and vehicles under OpenLane,” KAR CEO Peter Kelly said in a prepared statement. Kelly has been KAR’s CEO since 2021. He joined the company through its acquisition of OpenLane.

The first OpenLane-branded marketplace will launch in Canada, where the company will combine its existing Adesa and TradeRev platforms beginning next month. After that, the company will convert its U.S. platform, Backlot Cars. In Europe, the company’s Adesa Europe, Adesa UK and GWListe platforms have been rolled into a single marketplace that will also adopt the OpenLane brand.

KAR also offers automotive-related services under a handful of different brand names, including a vehicle inspection service called AutoVIN and a used-vehicle shipping service called the CarsArrive Network, among others. KAR spokeswoman Laurie Dippold said the company will evaluate branding for those services next year.

KAR also released its first-quarter financial report Tuesday afternoon.

The company reported profits from continuing operations of $12.7 million, or 1 cent per diluted share, as compared with a loss from continuing operations of $8.4 million, or 16 cents per diluted share, during the same period in 2022. In order to provide a more accurate year-over-year comparison, the numbers exclude the Adesa physical auto auction business that KAR sold to Carvana in May 2022.

KAR reported first-quarter revenue of $420.6 million, up 14% from the $369.4 million it reported during the same period last year. It plans to provide more details about its first-quarter financial performance and its rebranding plans during a call with analysts Wednesday morning.

KAR has some 4,500 employees in the U.S., Canada, Europe, Uruguay and the Philippines. The company sold 1.3 million vehicles last year.