German car maker Audi might start its used car business by the end of this year, making it possible for a large section of people to own the luxury car. The company had made plan about the pre-owned car business way back in the mid of 2012 and is believed to be giving final shape to it now. Earlier in August 2012, Audi India Head Michael Perschke had said, "The way Indian market is growing, there is an opportunity in the used car business and we also want to tap it. By the end of the year, we will start our used car business under the Audi Approved Plus brand."
Audi eyes its pre-owned car programme to account for up to 20 per cent of its new car sales. Perschke had pointed out, “Expectation in the long term for the used car business is to have about 10-20% of our new cars sales in India".
Now that the end of the year is approaching, it is widely speculated that the German car maker's exclusive pre-owned car programme would be launched by the end of December 2012. It is expected that Audi pre-owned car showrooms located in various parts of the country would house around 15 Audis that would be between less than 7 years old. Though no current update about its exclusive program has been given as yet by the company, speculations are rife that depending on the number of years the car would have been used, it would be priced between 55 per cent & 65 per cent of its original price. The Audi dealers throughout the country plan to open the pre-owned outlets, adjacent to the new ones or somewhere nearby.
If the company launches its pre-owned car outlets as anticipated by the end of this year, it would be quite interesting in itself. This is because, while on the one hand company would try to reach out to more people through the used cars, it on the other hand, plans to increase the price of its model range by up to 5 per cent from January 1, 2012.
