In a bid to push its sagging sales, Maruti Udyog Ltd on Saturday unveiled a new scheme to buy all pre-owned non-Maruti brands in exchange for any brand of its new or old passenger cars.
 
Riding on the success of its True Value scheme, launched two years ago to buy and sell only pre-owned Maruti cars, the largest Indian carmaker has thrown up its 100 outlets in about 70 cities for owners of any car brand to drive in and exchange their existing car for a new Maruti car, after paying the price difference.
 
Launching the novel scheme, Maruti Udyog managing director Jagdish Khattar told the media in Bangalore that the scheme would augment the sales of its new cars, as the market was maturing to achieve a ratio of 1:1 for every new car bought to every pre-owned car sold.
 
"Under the True Value scheme, the company has been able to sell about 600 new Maruti cars per 1,000 cars sold per month. In view of the growing demand for upgradation, we are confident that many of the existing non-Maruti car owners will come forward to avail of this attractive offer and switch over to new Maruti brands," Khattar stated.
 
With the car penetration in Sri Lanka and Pakistan being double than in India, the potential for new and existing cars across the country is huge. As against 90 per cent in the United States and 70 per cent in Japan, only 30 per cent of new car sales come from the replacement market in India.
 
"Unlike in the developed countries where cars are exchanged every three year, the gestation period in the sub-continent continues to be over seven years. With True Value, we intend to reduce the cycle time to five years and lesser," Khattar disclosed.
 
According to Maruti director K Saito, the benefits of True Value scheme such as evaluation, convenience and exchange options will be extended to even owners of all non-Maruti cars as well.
 
"Having stabilised the True Value business for Maruti brands, we propose to address the critical problem of selling pre-owned cars in an unorganised car market. Our new offer will enable non-Maruti owners to dispose of their vehicles conveniently and join the Maruti family with a new or pre-owned Maruti brand," Saito affirmed.
 
The latest initiative is expected to create a new avenue to owners of all non-Maruti cars to upgrade faster and help grow the Indian car market.
 
The company has also launched an exclusive True value website: TrueValue.MarutiUdyog.com with a database of cars available at its outlets.
 
The online exchange facility will enable prospective buyers to instantly search out the car they need. Even prospective sellers can get an estimate of the value of their car by accessing the website.