Former Carshop director Kirk O’Callaghan takes control at online used car start-up Carzam today.
After six months of gardening leave from his former employer, O’Callaghan joins the new digital business as it says it aims to ‘accelerate change’ in the sector.
On Saturday, Car Dealer revealed Carzam was the fastest growing new dealer according to data from our partners Carcondor.co.uk.
Members of the Car Dealer website get exclusive access to CarCondor’s used car data. You can sign up for a free account here.
Carzam says it is on track to sell 20,000 cars in its first year of trading. Cazoo said on Friday it had sold that many in 14 months of trading.
O’Callaghan said: ‘I’ve been monitoring the events very closely and it’s been an absolutely fantastic start for the business with some tremendous results.
‘I’m extremely looking forward to working with a team of leading industry players who have a wealth of retail, wholesale and digital automotive experience.’
Carzam is founded by Big Motoring World boss Peter Waddell and former Cox Automotive president John Bailey.
In January, the business announced it had expanded its senior team further with the hiring of former Cox Automotive president and Manheim chief financial officer Michael Buxton and former Renault Retail digital director Ashley Wade.
O’Callaghan added: ‘We’ve had some great talent from within the sector join the business and we plan to continue to build and attract the very best from within our industry going forward.
‘We have some very exciting plans for the future, the business model is very scalable and the team is very experienced, focused and energised to deliver on these plans.
‘At Carzam we’re set up to be very agile when it comes to meeting changing consumer and supply partner needs and we plan to lead the acceleration of this change within the used car wholesale and retail sectors.
‘Our people, customers and technology will be at the heart of everything we will do.’
Waddell said Carzam’s aim was to ‘reinvent the digital journey’.
He said: ‘We’re at a point in the industry where online and physical car sales are equally important and it’s imperative that we embrace both.
‘With Carzam we do that, by offering access to an unrivalled physical stock inventory but with all of the convenience and simplicity of online buying platforms including home delivery.’
Carzam allows buyers to choose their car, finance it and arrange for it to be delivered to their door all from the comfort of their home.
Car Dealer recently tried out the service for a special video you can watch above.
