Renault enters used car business with Renault Selection

Leading automobile manufacturer Renault India on Thursday launched multi-brand pre-owned car business Renault Selection, to provide customers a reliable platform to buy, sell and exchange certified pre-owned cars of any make and any model.

"We are entering new businesses in the automotive space, to best serve the Indian customer. The pre-owned car market in India has steadily gained momentum over the past decade," said Renault India CEO Sumit Sawhney inaugurating the French company's first used car showroom in India.

He said Renault will offer the best experience to a customer such that he will find no difference between a new car showroom and Renault's used car showroom Renault Selection.

The new Renault used car showrooms will facilitate sale, purchase and exchange of both Renault cars and other branded models.

The French automaker will certify and authenticate pre-owned cars for sale after 199 quality checks and offer them with a warranty of up to one year or 20,000 kilometres with cashless warranty, 24 x 7 roadside assistance, attractive finance options and clean documentation.

After the first Renault Selection showroom here, three more would be opened in Jaipur, Nagpur and Chandigarh to raise the number of used car showrooms to 20 in 2016 and 50 by 2017.

Explaining the dynamics of used car market, Renault India vice president, sales and marketing Rafael Treguer said the Indian used car market is 1.4 times bigger than the new car market, while Sawhney said global pre-owned car market is three times larger than the new car market.

Explaining the rationale for creating Renault Selection, Sawhney said the used car business model enables the company to sell more new cars, improve resale value of Renault vehicles and spike the customer base.

However, he gave no target to be met saying Renault has just started off with the pre-owned car business to give customers a one stop shop along with peace of mind.

Already 100 pre-owned cars are ready to be sold at the Renault Selection in Bengaluru, of which less than 15 percent are Renault branded, and rest come from rival companies like Mahindra, Maruti and others.

Though no specifics of the investments gone into creating Renault Selection were divulged, Treguer said the biggest investment in the new venture is training the manpower.

--IANS

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