Aug 14 2015

Toyota Kirloskar Motor is gearing up to use a different approach to strengthen its used car business in India which is currently operating under UTrust brand. The proposed Toyota Auction Mart is aimed at boosting confidence among customers by letting them have a final say in deciding the prices of their used cars.

Used car sales is higher than new car sales in India yet 80% of the segment is controlled by unorganized players.

This way, the Japanese automaker is aiming to prevent car dealers buying old cars and disposing them off in an unprofessional way. Toyota has been following the used car auction model in various international markets such as Japan and Taiwan. Operations will initially commence in Bangalore for which the company is reportedly setting up an auction facility near its manufacturing plants at Bidadi.

Usually, the authority of fixing a price for a used car which comes in for exchange lies with car dealers but as per the new business model, Toyota Trained professionals will inspect used cars of various brands for 203 parameters to access its worth and price for auction.

With the Toyota Auction Mart, the automaker is hoping to harness the potential of its used car business at a time when new car sales is stagnant.

The used car business in India is roughly 1.3 times bigger than new car business which stands at 2.5 million units a year. However, about 80% of the used car industry is unorganized. Organized players like Mahindra First Choice, Toyota, Honda, Hyundai, Mercedes-Benz, Volkswagen and Audi are steadily beefing up their operations.