Looking to make a foray into pre-owned car business in India: Porsche

Luxury sports car maker Porsche is planning to enter pre-owned car business in India in the medium term as it looks to enhance customer base in the country, according to a senior company official.

The company, which sells a range of luxury sports cars and sports utility vehicles (SUVs) such as the 718, 911, Macan and Cayenne priced between ₹69.98 lakh to ₹1.63 crore, currently has a total of about 3,500 customers in India.

"We are seriously looking at the pre-owned car business. Our car parc is more than 3,500 cars. It's a sizable number. We are exploring the right format for used car business," Porsche India Director Pavan Shetty told PTI.

Globally, the company sells pre-owned cars under its Porsche Approved brand.

When asked how soon will the company start the pre-owned car vertical, he said, "This is a mid-term plan, it cannot be a long-term plan...We don't have a timeframe right now because there are so many projects going on but we understand the potential of used car business and we should be able to see the light of the day very soon."

Exuding confidence of doing well in the used car business, Shetty said, "We are one of the few brands that offer warranty up to nine years. A nine-year warranty for a car talks about the quality itself. When you have a duty structure (on imported luxury cars) that we have in India, a lot of people would like to realise their aspiration mid-cycle because the quality is great and the car doesn't break down."

He further said the span of warranty that the company offers to its cars gives window for two owners during the period if the first owner decides to upgrade mid-way.

"So, for us, the second one is the foot in the door, who will then automatically graduate to a new car," Shetty said.

When asked about the sales outlook for 2020, he said it is difficult to put a number at the moment but is looking to build on what it achieved in 2019, which was a challenging one for the auto industry.

"In 2018, we did 348 cars and last year was a bit challenging for the auto segment but we ended up with 350 cars. We are quite pleased with what happened last year and we hope to build on the momentum this year... I think 2020 would also be on the lines of 2019," Shetty said.

Porsche is looking at launching sports car Panamera, 10th year edition towards the second quarter this year followed by electric car Taycan towards the end of this year, he said.