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New Delhi : Mahindra & Mahindra is looking to expand its pre-owned vehicles business with plans to sell one lakh units every year by 2015, for which it will ramp up its outlets by over four-fold.
"There is a huge demand for second-hand market... About 14 lakh units were sold in the market last fiscal. Our own target is to reach one lakh units every year by 2015," Mahindra & Mahindra President (HR, After-Market, and Corporate Services) Rajeev Dubey said.
The pre-owned vehicle division of the company -- Mahindra FirstChoice -- sold about 10,200 vehicles in 2008-09 and is aiming to sell over 18,000 units this fiscal. It is expecting a two-fold jump in 2010-11, he added.
Dubey said the market is growing at 20 per cent every year and with one lakh units by 2015, Mahindra First Choice would enjoy less than five per cent of the total share.
In order to achieve its target, the company plans to aggressively expand its network across the country. "We will expand our pre-owned sales points to 500 stores by 2015 from the existing 114 outlets," Dubey said. While most of the stores would be opened by franchisee partners, about 20 outlets would be company-owned under the brand 'SuperStore'.
When asked if the company would raise any funds for its expansion programmes, Dubey said, "Right now we have enough capital for the next 1-2 years." In 2008, M&M had raised Rs 80 crore through private placement in FirstChoice from Phi Advisors, promoted by Anupam Thareja and P Sivaram. Asked if FirstChoice would go for public listing as is the case with many of the M&M group firms, he said, "We have a PE investor (Phi Advisors), who will some day want a return on investment. We can think of unlocking the value then, but not in the near future."
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