Volvo Cars aims one third sales from used car business, to expand by 2024

Volvo Cars is aiming to scale up its used car business in India in coming days. The Swedish car manufacturer, which runs its used car business called Volvo Selekt, aims to see it contribute around one third of its overall sales in the country in the next two years. Volvo recently launched its pre-owned car business platform Selekt in India with two dealerships. Volvo already had the used car business established in global markets.

Jyoti Malhotra, Managing Director at Volvo Cars India was quoted by news agency PTI saying, “We have just started a pilot for our pre-owned certified car platform Volvo Selekt with two dealers in India. We want to expand it in phases and we are looking to ensure that the platform is across our network by 2023 or early 2024." Malhotra expects Volvo to score higher due to quality, assurance, warranty and inspection factors when it comes to pre-owned car ownership experience.

Volvo offers its SUVs like XC40, XC60 and XC90 as well as its sedan S90 as part of its fleet for the used car business in India called Volvo Selekt.

Malhotra said that carmakers in India can increase the sales of pre-owned cars if they drive the segment themselves. "In this (model), consumers get the right price for the car and the buyers also get the right price with the quality and value in the product, which "Volvo Car India is working on," he added.

Volvo Cars India sold 1,724 units last year, which was 27 per cent more than 1,361 units the Swedish carmaker sold in 2020. According to Malhotra, Volvo Cars India has seen good demand in the first half of this year. In the first six months, Volvo has witnessed its sales increase by 17 per cent compared to the same period last year with a little over 800 units delivered. In the last six months, between July and December, Volvo expects to see its sales in India to grow by 25 per cent.

"Demand wise, it is better as we have good order intake but are still constrained by supplies," said Malhotra. According to him, Volvo could sell nearly 2,000 units this year, a "decent growth" despite erratic supply-chain among other challenges.

Volvo recently upgraded its entire fleet to petrol hybrid models with the launch of the facelift versions of XC40 and XC90 SUVs. The carmaker had earlier launched the XC40 Recharge, its first electric car in India, as it aim to go all-electric by 2030. The carmaker also plans to launch C40 Recharge, its second EV in the country, by the middle of next year.