Toyota enters used car auction business in India

Company will start operations through a dedicated auction facility at Bidadi, near Bangalore in Karnataka

Japanese auto major Toyota today announced its foray into used car auction business in India with the launch of 'Toyota Auction Mart'.

The company, which is present in India through a joint venture with the Kirloskar Group -- Toyota Kirloskar Motor (TKM), said it will start operations through a dedicated auction facility at Bidadi, near Bangalore in Karnataka.

Commenting on the launch, TKM Managing Director Naomi Ishii said: "India's used car market continues to grow rapidly every year, yet remains largely unorganised. The launch of Toyota Auction Mart signifies our efforts to develop a fair and transparent used car market with increased reliability for our customers and will contribute to the Indian society."

Toyota has been engaged in auction through affiliates for more than 45 years now and will leverage its global experience and expertise of conducting auctions in markets across the world to ensure the highest quality, he added.

Every used car from all brands will go through detailed inspection that will determine the current quality level of the car thereby ensuring highest levels of QDR (quality, durability and reliability) for the end users of the product, the company said.

All cars in the Toyota Auction Mart will go through comprehensive 203 point inspection which is used to arrive at a quality level of used vehicle and each car will be checked for quality level by TKM in-charge after due diligence of documentation. These 203 Points inspection is based on global Toyota standards of QDR, it added.

Currently, the Toyota Auction Mart is a B2B (business to business) model.