Many customers are surprised when they hear we reply within 15 minutes or make full payment within 24 hours ~ Katherine Teo, Carro Chief Marketing Officer
SINGAPORE-based online car marketplace Carro is leaning hard into artificial intelligence, not just in its backend systems, in its latest advertising campaign.
The company, founded in 2015, claims it now facilitates about 120,000 vehicle transactions annually across Asia Pacific, with gross merchandise value of about US$1.4 billion. It has raised roughly US$490 million to date and employs more than 4500 people across the region.
But the new push is less about scale, and more about speed.
Making “short” the selling point
Carro’s new “Surprisingly Short” campaign uses AI-generated visuals of everyday objects that have been deliberately cropped or compressed — an exaggerated metaphor for what the company claims is a compressed car-selling timeline.
The promise? Response within 15 minutes. Vehicle inspection in around 30 minutes. Payment within 24 hours
In a market where private car sales can drag on for weeks — through price negotiations, paperwork, and inspections — Carro is positioning its process as streamlined, tech-led and transparent.
The campaign will run across digital and social channels in Singapore, Malaysia and Hong Kong.
AI in the engine room
While the creative is playful, the company’s reliance on AI is not new.
Carro says machine learning models underpin its pricing algorithms, customer service flows and inspection systems. When a seller submits details online, they first interact with what the company describes as an agentic AI tool that handles routine enquiries before routing to human staff if needed.
Chief Operating Officer Chua Zi Yong says the aim is to reduce friction in what can be a frustrating process.
“We’ve seen how drawn-out and confusing car-selling can be,” he says. “We’re constantly improving our customer service and AI inspection tools to provide accurate valuations quickly.”
Chief Marketing Officer Katherine Teo says customer response times and payment speed have become competitive differentiators.
“Many customers are surprised when they hear we reply within 15 minutes or make full payment within 24 hours,” she says. “We wanted to show that this should be the standard.”
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AI — but not without humans
The campaign itself was developed by Carro’s in-house creative team, which used generative AI tools to produce shortened, stylised objects as visual metaphors.
Associate Creative Director Shane Lim says the team tested AI as a “creative collaborator”, but stresses that concept development and localisation remained human-led.Singapore’s Carro launches an AI campaign promising 15-min responses and 24-hour payments, aiming to set a new speed and transparency standard in Asia’s used car market.
That distinction is important.
As companies across Asia ramp up AI deployment, workforce anxiety often follows. Carro’s messaging leans on augmentation rather than replacement — positioning AI as a tool that improves speed and accuracy, while keeping human oversight in place.
A regional tech play in a crowded market
Carro’s expansion into new car sales in Singapore and Malaysia this year suggests a broader ambition beyond used vehicles. The company has backing from SoftBank Vision Fund and sovereign investors: capital that indicates long-term intent in a competitive, margin-sensitive industry.
The bigger question isn’t whether AI can shorten a process. It’s whether speed, transparency and valuation accuracy are enough to build durable trust in a marketplace where buyers and sellers have traditionally relied on negotiation, personal relationships and dealer reputation.
Carro is betting that they are.
Find out more at Carro’s official website.
Article reworked from PR Newswire
