Pre-owned Cars may account for 20% of sales

German luxury carmaker Mercedes-Benz is looking at around 20 percent of its total sales this year to come from pre-owned car sales despite sourcing of used vehicles remaining a challenge, according to a senior company official.

The company’s arm Mercedes-Benz India had sold over 3,000 pre-owned cars last year and is witnessing robust demand for such vehicles with the holding period coming down to around 10 days as compared to 30 to 45 days earlier.

“Still 18 to 20 percent of our total car sales will come from used cars. So last year, if we did 16,000-odd cars, I will say 3,000 plus cars were used cars, about 20 percent. Similar ratios will continue, I would say at 20-odd percent,” Mercedes-Benz India Managing Director & CEO Santosh Iyer told PTI.

He was responding to a query on the sales of the company’s pre-owned cars.

The company sells its pre-owned cars through the “Mercedes-Benz Certified” channel which are located at all dealers’ locations and are actively selling and trading in cars.

The Mercedes-Benz Certified business witnessed steady traction growing by 20 percent in Q1 2023, owing to growing aspirations and also supported by increased supplies of pre-owned cars, Iyer added.