Picture a buyer in Alaska ordering a Jeep that came off a lot in Arizona. The Carvana shipping network makes that possible, and according to Automotive News, the company’s distribution web of more than 100 facilities gives it access to a far bigger pool of new-vehicle buyers than any traditional dealer could reach.
Here is the part that should make every franchised dealer sit up. Carvana sells new vehicles hundreds or even thousands of miles away from its seven franchised stores. That is not a typo.
How the Carvana shipping network works
A normal dealership lives and dies by its local market. Carvana skips that limit. Every car it sells, new or used, goes through its website. As Tom Taira, the company’s president of special projects, told CNBC in June, “Every single car that we sell, whether it’s used or new, is online.”
So the dealerships work more like test-drive centers and service bays than old-school showrooms. The logistics operation does the heavy lifting from there. A buyer in Alaska can order a Jeep that came off a lot in Arizona, and the miles in between are Carvana’s problem.
One store, a lot of Rams, and a huge delivery network
The proof is in the volume. Carvana has bought seven new-vehicle franchises since last year, mostly selling Stellantis brands like Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep and Ram, CNBC reported. The first was in Casa Grande, Arizona, bought early last year.
That store is now Stellantis’ highest-volume U.S. location. Stellantis data shared with CNBC show it sold more than 700 new vehicles in May. Before Carvana took over, it reportedly moved only 30 to 50 a month, according to CBT News.
Same building. Wildly different reach. The Carvana delivery network is the reason.
Meanwhile, the other stores sit in Sacramento, San Diego, Dallas, Atlanta, Cleveland and Boston, per CNBC.
Why the new-car map looks so different
A companion Automotive News analysis shows where those vehicles actually land. In June, 1,378 new Carvana-purchased vehicles were registered in 1,205 ZIP codes across 37 states, according to Chris Wood of LocaliQ Automotive, as reported by Tucson.com. The registrations stretch from Alaska to Florida to New Jersey to California.
Think about what that means. Thanks to Carvana nationwide shipping, a store in Arizona is, in effect, competing with dealers in New Jersey. Until now, dealers have never had to worry about a competitor like that. Even a struggling luxury brand like Maserati, whose U.S. dealers are reportedly seeing sales grind to a halt, never faced a rival with this kind of reach.
Here’s the thing for car buyers
So why should you care? Because geography has always shaped what you pay and what you can find. A bigger pool of buyers means the Carvana shipping network can move inventory that might sit elsewhere. Local dealers may have to sharpen their pricing and their online game.
Not everyone is cheering. CNBC reports that dealers and experts see this as a potential disruption of the century-old franchised dealer system, and new-vehicle sales are regulated state by state. That patchwork of rules could shape how far this model can stretch.
One caution: “edge” is Automotive News’ framing. So far, we found no independent sales-share data showing how big that edge really is.
What to watch next for the Carvana logistics network
The next real clue comes soon. Carvana reports third-quarter results on October 28 after the market closes, with a call at 5:30 p.m. ET, according to the company’s announcement. Expect questions about new vehicles.
Meanwhile, the rest of the industry is racing to keep up, as with Honda’s new hybrid system and platform arriving in 2027. The big question for the dealer down the road is simple. If the car comes to the customer from anywhere, what exactly is a local lot for?
