K Car's weekly auction hits 1,000th showing, with 436,000 vehicles sold

K Car, the country's largest directly operated used-car platform run by KG Mobility Platform, announced Tuesday that its regular vehicle auction, Weekly Auction, has reached its 1,000th showing.

Since the first auction in March 2011, a cumulative 617,000 vehicles have been listed on Weekly Auction, of which 436,000 were sold — an average closing rate of 70.7 percent. Over the past three years, the average number of vehicles listed and sold per showing stood at 1,317 and 994, respectively. Both sales profit and operating profit have grown at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) exceeding 30 percent over the past decade.

Used-car auctions are a wholesale retail market where dealers, trading companies and exporters buy and sell used vehicles through open competitive bidding. They redistribute vehicles sitting idle in specific regions or with particular businesses to operators who need them, improving overall distribution efficiency.

K Car Auction launched its first Weekly Auction in March 2011 with the opening of a vehicle auction site in Osan, Gyeonggi Province, and has since operated on an online-to-offline (O2O) model linking physical auction venues with online bidding. A second site in Sejong, which opened in October 2022, allows bidders to inspect vehicles in person at both locations. The Osan site accommodates up to 1,700 vehicles and holds auctions on Thursdays, while the Sejong site handles up to 800 vehicles and runs auctions on Tuesdays.

Each venue manages the full auction process — from vehicle intake and condition inspection to listing, bidding, closing and release. Member companies can participate in real-time bidding from anywhere via PC or mobile.

KG Mobility Platform sources vehicles through its nationwide directly operated stores and external consignors, and has built a trading base in which a large number of member companies compete in bidding. All listed vehicles undergo a condition inspection before the auction, and inspection results along with vehicle images are shared with members in advance. Bidding activity and closing results are also available online, enhancing professionalism and transparency.

KG Mobility Platform said the closing rate in 2025 reached approximately 80 percent, which it described as the highest in the industry. Vehicles listed through K Car Auction accounted for 15 percent of the used-car auction market the previous year, and 19.5 percent on a closing basis.

K Car Auction currently has 1,655 member companies nationwide, including used-car dealers and exporters. Of these, 719 are export buyers. The company has partnered with competitive export platform operators and is developing new markets to offset geopolitical risks in the Middle East.

Hwang Jae-hyeok, head of KG Mobility Platform's auction project division, said the 1,000th Weekly Auction "is the result of building a stable used-car trading foundation together with our member companies." He added that the company would "continue to provide accurate vehicle information and a convenient bidding environment, and keep advancing the online and offline auction system to contribute to a transparent and efficient used-car distribution market."