Chief Executive Officer & Director, Openlane
Search every verified Peter Kelly interview, podcast appearance, and on-the-record quote — each transcript cross-checked by AI and human review to confirm speaker identity. In a January 2025 podcast appearance, Peter Kelly discussed the wholesale car market outlook, stating that wholesale volumes would remain "somewhat constrained" in 2025 due to a lack of one- to three-year-old vehicles, which he said would support used vehicle prices. He projected "fairly significant growth" in used vehicle supply in 2026 and 2027, driven by increased off-lease vehicles. Kelly noted that Openlane had sold over 1.4 million cars in the prior 12 months through its digital marketplace and described his role as empowering the company's 4,500 employees. He also said the company's core purpose is "to make wholesale easy so our customers can be more successful." In an August 2025 appearance, Kelly offered advice on real estate due diligence for property buyers, emphasizing the importance of understanding site analysis, easements, zoning, and coverage before purchasing. He encouraged buyers to contact local councils for information, stating that "councils are paid by us" and are there to provide service. Kelly also recommended building relationships with designers and conducting thorough site walks and neighborhood assessments as part of the due diligence process.
“When we're talking about costs here, the build cost, I think, is your biggest variable. It's your biggest cost.”
“I think it's important to understand the site analysis and assessment due diligence. So, you know, easements, zoning, your coverage available, all of those things.”
“A lot of that stuff is available online and you can get it from the councils. You got to remember, councils are paid by us. They're here to service us. So don't feel like you shouldn't be calling them to... The truth is that's what they're there for.”
“If you've shown that you've done the work on a site and you've been there, you walked the site, you walked the neighborhood, you've asked the questions... and then you go to your designer and say, 'Hey, mate, I'm looking at this. This is what I'm thinking about doing.' They're going to be able to say... you know, shado...”
“So you want to make sure you tick all of those boxes in your, you know, your due diligence.”
“I think wholesale volumes will still be somewhat constrained really because of that lack of 1 to three-year old vehicle that I talked about so we won't see a massive growth in wholesale supply this year I don't think but I think that also means prices will tend to support wholesale used vehicle prices.”
“In the past 12 months we've sold just over 1.4 million cars that number continues to grow and we do that entirely through a digital Marketplace business model.”
“A CEO of an organization and OpenLane has 4,500 employees my real role is empowering those 4,500 employees those are the people who actually get the work done that move the business forward that take care of our customers so empowering that team and making sure that team is aligned is really really important.”
“Our core purpose is to make wholesale easy so our customers can be more successful so dealers can be more successful so that's what we're all about and if we have that as our Northstar then I can trust that when a person is interacting with a customer or when you have a group of employees in a room trying to make a dec...”
“We encourage our team to always ask questions how can we make it better what are the pain points we don't understand how could we possibly improve those is there a process change or a technology solution that might help that so relentless curiosity, smart risk-taking, and fearless ownership are core values we have.”
“Manufacturers will offer even higher incentives and I will give that one a check as well. At this point we are around like 8% incentive of average transaction price on new vehicles so we have seen that continue to go up pretty linearly.”
“We are seeing delinquencies rise as well and so that has potentially queuing up for an even more robust wholesale Market as maybe even delayed because we're not yet at default and repossessions go figure.”
“I think wholesale volumes will still be somewhat constrained really because of that lack of 1 to three-year old vehicle that I talked about so we won't see a massive growth in wholesale supply this year I don't think but I think that also means prices will tend to support wholesale used vehicle prices. We are expecting...”
“The US economy has been strong, probably the strongest big economy in the world today but it's not working at the same level for everybody across the economy. Interest rate cuts haven't seemed to flow through to the end consumer yet, and retail sales are robust. We look at the equity gap in off lease cars and other met...”
“If I were to make a projection, I'd say retail new vehicle sales and retail used vehicle sales in 2025 should be pretty good. Wholesale volumes will still be somewhat constrained because of the lack of one to three-year old vehicles, so we won't see massive growth in wholesale supply this year, but prices will tend to...”
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Welcome to the Car Dealership Guy Podcast. In this episode, I'm speaking with Peter Kelly, CEO of OPENLANE where we discuss ...
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