SANTA MONICA, Calif. -

TrueCar president and chief executive officer Chip Perry has retired, the company announced Monday morning.

The company said in a news release it intends on Perry continuing in an advisory role, with Michael Darrow appointed by the board as interim president and CEO.

Darrow’s current post is executive vice president of partner and OEM development and president of TrueCar’s ALG subsidiary.

“I feel beyond proud of the work the TrueCar team has done over the past few years,” Perry said in a news release. “We have righted the ship, rebuilding our dealer network to over 16,500 dealers while concurrently completing our Capsela technology replatforming effort.

“This is a critical foundation upon which to build a differentiated, end-to-end car buying experience. Additionally, TrueCar Trade and our expansion into digital retail through our DealerScience acquisition are rapidly advancing us toward becoming the preeminent shopping-to-showroom solution,” he said. “With these critical puzzle pieces now in place, I believe TrueCar is well positioned to create even more fabulous new products and services that will provide significant additional value to consumers, dealers, and OEMs.”

Perry was named TrueCar’s president and CEO in late 2015, taking over for Scott Painter.

This was just the latest in a long automotive career for Perry, who founded what is now Autotrader in 1997 and served as its CEO until 2013.

Chris Claus, chairman of TrueCar's Board of Directors, said in Monday’s release: “On behalf of the Board of Directors, I want to sincerely thank Chip for the leadership he has brought to TrueCar over the last few years, rebuilding our dealer customer base, reinventing our technology platform and setting the stage for TrueCar’s growth as a best-in-class online automotive marketplace.

“We are grateful to Chip and wish him all the best in his retirement. We appreciate his deep commitment to TrueCar, and we thank him for his service,” Claus said.

This news appears to have been first reported by Cliff Banks of The Banks Report.

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