Looking back at the past Alex Vetter has always been about the future. Almost 30 years after working to convince investors to back nascent car buying and research website Cars.com, Vetter still has his eyes focused on what’s ahead as he celebrates this month a decade as CEO of the broad-range technology company now known as Cars Commerce.
As Vetter recalled in sprawling interview, he was always a technology guy, working with start-ups and investors and companies that included America Online.
He was set to go to work for the search engine Yahoo, but Vetter never made it to California when Chicago-based Tribune Company agreed to seed fund the creation a series of vertically-integrated companies that included real estate, employment and, yes, autos.
Indeed, Vetter and the company’s investors were convinced increased vertical integration looked to be the key to future success.
“The belief was that horizontal media companies were going to start to lose ground to vertical industries and categories, and that If you didn’t innovate in a vertical market, as opposed to being broad market, you would lose market share,” Vetter said.
The other important evidence of the company’s prescience was splurging $70,000 to buy the Cars.com domain name at a time when simply registering a generic domain cost about 15 bucks.
“We knew early on that buying the domain name Cars.com was going to be critical, because if you’re going to build the category leader, to own the name that is synonymous with the category was extremely important,” Vetter recalled.
Vetter Named CEO
Fast-forward to November, 2014. That’s when one of Cars.com’s five owners bought the company outright and asked Vetter to stay on as CEO—a move he says was “flattering,” especially since he thought the new ownership would result in his dismissal.
With Vetter in the top job and a mandate from the new owner, the metamorphosis of Cars.com accelerated.
“The business, when it was originally created, was much more of a media company, and as you can see and how we’ve changed over the past decade, we’ve shifted aggressively towards technology solutions that power the auto industry, and by doing that, we’re creating a much more vertically integrated company that supports OEMs, dealers, private sellers, allied industries and finance and insurance,” Vetter explained.
Company is rebranded
In October, 2023, the company was rebranded as Cars Commerce Inc., reflecting its broadened portfolio and Vetter’s desire to generate additional revenues by providing technology solutions to the industry.
“Increasingly, we wanted to help innovate on behalf of dealership operations and OEMs to get them closer to the customer online, and in many cases, that meant that we had to enable them by building them a website or using technology to help them appraise cars,” Vetter explained. “So if you look at our financials, while the bulk of the revenue comes in from our flagship marketplace, Cars.com, the fastest growing segment in our business is our technology solutions.”
In a broader sense, always with an eye looking ahead, Vetter says the company’s continued success is moving beyond what he calls current technology that merely reflects past trends.
“Our trade and appraisal technology connects dealers directly to consumers, bypassing the auctions, and delivers accurate, real-time valuations in minutes, and we will continue to shift the industry towards real-time predictive data that informs our future, rather than relying on insights that only tell us what happened in the past,” Vetter said. “We will use information as a weapon to challenge the way the automotive industry thinks and operates.”
It’s working so far. The company has enjoyed 16 consecutive months of revenue growth, according to Vetter, and a 10% increase in revenue since taking the company public in 2017.
Vetter leadership style wins
The combination of his leadership style and business sense has won Vetter loyalty and praise from employees and customers.
“In my time with the company, before and after the transformation of our strategy, there is one clear difference about Cars Commerce that Alex has instilled in the very fabric of our culture. He is a persistent champion for dealers,” said Heather Johnson, vice president, field sales, at Cars Commerce, in emailed remarks, who also noted Vetter “will fight for you and with you any day of the week and that’s why he’s a beloved leader in our company and the industry.”
“He sees clearly both the challenges and the possibilities for change, and that foresight drives us to build technology that solves real problems for our customers and consumers,” added Matthew Crawford, Cars Commerce chief product and innovation officer.
At Northern California-based Del Grande Dealer Group, CEO Jeremy Beaver says Vetter’s decade atop Cars.com/Cars Commerce has made a difference, noting, “I have witnessed firsthand the positive impact of Alex’s leadership, which has fostered a culture of collaboration and excellence within the organization. His dedication has truly transformed the way we facilitate automotive transactions,” in emailed remarks.
EV confidence
One of the perplexing issues for the U.S. auto industry has been the pace of adoption of battery electric vehicles. Vetter believes the EV market will stabilize based on increased demand. He contends his company’s technology providing real-time valuations will give consumers the information they need to help them better understand current EV pricing, contributing to boosted sales.
He’s not concerned, however, about the return of Donald Trump to the White House and his threats to cool EV sales by reducing emission standards and dismantling some of the tax breaks in the Inflation Reduction Act.
“As much as the industry and or administrations want to put their will on the people. I think the customer ultimately is the one leading the way,” Vetter said. “So I think if you lead with the customer and you let them guide the way, policies administrations can change, but the durability of what the consumer wants is the safest bet.”
No brick and mortar demise
While Cars.com remains what Vetter describes as the company’s “golden goose,” he does not see an eventual demise of brick and mortar dealerships, even as online car shopping and research grows, and that, ironically, means added opportunity for the company.
“There was never a belief that that last mile was ever going to magically disappear. So we’ve always innovated to help move more of the process online, but yet keeping the local retailer at the center of that last mile of the transaction,” he said.
Next
Vetter is clearly pleased with the progress the company has made before, and during, his decade as its CEO, and he’s looking forward to what’s ahead.
“The future looks bright,” he predicted. “I’m very blessed that I work in a brand and a business as strong as this one and the road ahead looks even better.”
