Lentuo International Inc. has announced its strategy for comprehensive expansion of its pre-owned car business. After extensive analysis of the pre-owned car market in China, the company believes that the time has come for a substantial overhaul of current practices at a time when this market is growing faster than sales of new cars and that the car ownership aspirations of a large number of Chinese consumers require the rapid development of a strong and healthy pre-owned car market nationwide. The company intends to quickly build a first-mover advantage through the roll-out of an online-to-offline (O2O) platform that it intends to implement in the near future, leveraging its extensive technical know-how, loyal customer base, sophisticated equipment, and experienced management team.

Lentuo has held discussions with potential partners for the development and implementation of the O2O platform and its rapid geographical expansion. On the physical side of the platform, and as a first step, Lentuo announced that it will convert an existing new car showroom in South Beijing into a fully integrated pre-owned flagship store for mid-to-high end cars that will privilege customer experience, reliability and extensive choice. Customers will be able to buy certified pre-owned mid-to-high end cars from Lentuo and a number of high-quality third party dealers and transfer ownership title on the spot because of the strategic location of the store in the Beijing Economic and Technological Development Area (BDA) which has already developed as a center for car sales.

Other services will include trade-ins, financing and repair and maintenance services. The store will be at the center of the BDA, a state-level development zone that includes a heavily trafficked office complex with a number of foreign and domestic Fortune 500 companies and an exclusive housing community. The store will benefit from a concentrated high-income population and favorable government policies for firms located within the BDA.

The company expects substantial growth in the number of cars available for the pre-owned car market.