Hyundai Motor makes its entry to used car market official

Hyundai Motor, South Korea‘s largest carmaker, made its entry to the local secondhand car market official on Monday, after facing opposition from small- and medium-sized dealers in the market for years.

The company will only sell high-quality certified used cars that have been driven less than 100,000 kilometers and owned for less than five years for customer satisfaction, it said.

All cars to be sold must go through performance tests and maintenance service provided by the automaker and earn the “Certified Pre-Owned” mark.

To certify quality, the automaker will run around 200 quality tests which will be divided into three different steps including checkup at purchase, precision diagnosis, and certification examination, it added.

To tune up used cars before selling, Hyundai will establish a “High-Tech Center” for the CPO vehicles only.

Hyundai will also offer a trade-in program for customers to offer discounts to those that buy new cars from Hyundai after selling their pre-owned cars to Hyundai.

Such one-stop selling and purchase process can help customers sell their pre-owned cars at a fair price and buy new cars at an attractive price, according to Hyundai.

To enhance trust with customers, the carmaker will have a used-car market portal site in which it will offer general information of vehicles on the market such as their price, performance, and quality.

The portal will also offer a screening service to eliminate fake offers with ridiculous pricing, and transparent information on cars’ history such as accident and recall records.

In efforts to coexist with small to mid-size secondhand car sellers, Hyundai said it will limit its market share to 2.5 percent this year, to 3.6 percent next year, and to 5.1 percent in 2024.

This comes in response to resistance Hyundai has been facing from the country’s association of used car dealerships since it began to prepare the launch of its secondhand car business.

“We will train and educate our employees to be in charge of the used car business for them to have a better understanding of high-tech cars such as electric vehicles and autonomous driving cars,” said an official from Hyundai. “We will increase market reliability by improving the overall quality and performance level of used cars, and promote various cooperations with existing industries so that the used car industry can grow.”

By Hong Yoo (yoohong@heraldcorp.com)