PSA elaborates on its plans to double used vehicle sales by 2021

6 April 2017

The PSA Group has placed development of its used car business at the heart of its Push to Pass strategic plan which is intended to achieve profitable growth. Speaking at a used vehicle symposium hosted by autoactu.com, Marc Lechantre, director of the used vehicles business unit that was formed in October 2016 explained how the group plans to achieve its target of doubling used vehicle sales to 800,000 units by 2021 and quadrupling profits.

PSA’s used vehicle sales are predominantly in Europe and so a core part of the plan is to expand the operation internationally into markets such as China and South America, which will ultimately generate 25% of the 800,000 unit sales target. The used vehicles business is also seeking to expand into markets where PSA has a limited presence, such as across Africa, and will be complemented by PSA’s multi-brand after-sales operation.

Another part of the used vehicle business expansion plan is for PSA to have a presence in all the used vehicle sales channels, including consumer-to-consumer (C2C) sales. Lechantre said: ′The selling experience is not obvious to an individual, who does not always know how much to sell a vehicle for and its true condition. In the same way, the buyer needs reassurance on the quality of the vehicle he is going to buy, so there are services to be provided to these customers and we have projects in this area.’ Lechantre did not elaborate on how PSA would address this issue, but he did not rule out acquiring players in this field.

Nevertheless, most of the growth in the used car business is expected to come from B2C and B2B sales. In order to develop in this area, PSA has already acquired a 30% stake in Aramisauto, which specialises in the sale of used vehicles online. The objective of this acquisition is to build on Aramis’ know-how of the digital channel but PSA is also looking to Aramis to create synergies with its brand networks and thus promote the development of its various activities. For example, Aramis could assist dealers with the resale of used cars from competitor brands that are often traded in when purchasing a new car.

Finally, to achieve the growth in used vehicle sales, additional vehicle sourcing is also planned. Lechantre explained that ′It is Aramis’ direction as well as that of our future presence in the C2C channel to be able to buy private vehicles if we are interested.’ Also in line with this logic is the new Free2Move activity around mobility. ′All these mobility services create second-hand vehicles which are different to those on the private market, so this is an opportunity for us but it is also a risk if fleets are not considered from the start to be future used vehicles’ said Lechantre.

Photograph courtesy of Groupe PSA