Volkswagen hopes to double its pre-owned car sales in India this year

Volkswagen is looking to double its pre-owned car sales in India this year to 20,000 units as there is a shift in customer preference towards the used vehicle segment, the company's top official told PTI. While the company sold 10,000 pre-owned cars last year, it is on track to sell 20,000 units this calendar year due to an uptick in demand.

The carmaker had entered the used car market in 2012 with the launch of its first Das Welt auto showroom in the country. In June last year, it launched Das WeltAuto 3.0 - the brand's digital window to facilitate buying and selling of used cars.

With the coronavirus pandemic, there has been a rising need for personal mobility options. “People who can afford to buy a car again are more likely to buy an additional car," Volkswagen Passenger Cars India Brand Director Ashish Gupta told PTI, adding that the new buyers coming into the market are driving the demand, which is now shifting to pre-owned cars.

The pre-owned car market in India is expected to cross around 4-4.5 million cars by 2025, which will be almost 1.5-2 times the new car market, as per a study by Frost & Sullivan, commissioned by Volkswagen earlier this year. "Going forward, I think that with this customer trend, we have to make sure that we keep both the streams - new as well as pre-owned car sales - running that," Gupta added.

He also said that there has been a great uptick in highly-priced cars in the premium and luxury segment as well. “There seems to be a lot of revenge buying happening in the market where customers are now going out and splurging on expensive purchases," he explained. Further, he said that as per global analysts, the ongoing semiconductor chip shortage will continue at least till the first half of 2022.

(with inputs from PTI)