Carvana: From Survival Mode to Record Profits

In 2021, Carvana looked unstoppable.

People were buying cars online. Used-car prices were soaring. Carvana expanded aggressively.

Then the market turned.

Interest rates rose. Used-car prices fell. Carvana was carrying significant debt, and suddenly a business built for explosive growth had to prove it could survive.

So Carvana changed the priority.

Growth stopped being the obsession. Profitability became the mission.

The company cut costs, slowed expansion and concentrated on making more money from each vehicle it sold.

Then something unusual happened.

Once the economics improved, Carvana started growing rapidly again.

In 2025, it sold nearly 597,000 retail vehicles, 43% more than the previous year. Revenue jumped 49% to $20.3 billion, while adjusted EBITDA reached $2.24 billion.

And the momentum continued.

In Q2 2026, Carvana sold more than 197,000 vehicles, up 38% year over year, while producing $513 million of net income and $769 million of adjusted EBITDA.

That's what makes Carvana's story interesting.

The original idea—buying a car almost entirely online—wasn't necessarily the problem.

The problem was trying to scale that idea at almost any cost.

Carvana's turnaround didn't require abandoning its giant vending machines or becoming a traditional dealership.

It required learning something far less exciting:

Growth only works when the economics underneath it work too.

Carvana nearly became a cautionary tale about growth at all costs.

Instead, cutting back helped give it another chance to grow.

Published September 24, 2026

Sources: Carvana SEC, Reuters Report