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Ford to increase presence in second-hand car mart

Ford India Limited is contemplating a greater presence in the used car trade by setting up a pre-owned vehicle sales network across the country. Plans towards this end are being formalised at present but no time-frame has been finalised, Ford India managing director Phil Spender said.

This is part of Ford's attempts to create a vibrant used car market in India and also to boost sales of its cars through exchange schemes.

''We have already taken the first step in this direction by opening Talera Ford in Bombay. Other centres are now being evaluated for setting up similar ventures but the launch schedule is yet to be finalised,'' Spender said.

Talera Ford, he said, is a pilot project launched in coordination with the Bombay dealer and Ford Credit, the finance arm of Ford. ''Based on the success of this venture, similar projects would be launched in other cities with the dealers there.'' Ford presently has around 22 dealers across the country.

To begin with, the Talera used car division will deal only in pre-owned Ford cars that are not more than three years old. But at a later stage, other cars, including Maruti Esteem, Opel Astra, Cielo, Tata Safari, Tata Sumo, Hindustan Motor Lancer, Honda City would be traded with new Ford cars on easy repayment scheme.

Worldwide, the used car market is almost 50 per cent the size of the new car market, while in India the market is estimated to be even bigger and almost totally in the unorganised sector.

''The problem here, however, is that there is no authentic data on price of used-cars, while there is no guarantee on the qualitative aspects of the vehicles. With our effort, we expect to get the used car market into the organised sector's fold,'' he added.

UNI

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