Stellantis will become the majority shareholder of a French company specializing in the reconditioning of second-hand vehicles. The company will continue operating as before and will expand internationally from next year, including to Spain.
More manufacturers are joining the trend of recondition used vehicles to re-sell them to private customers with a high level of quality and satisfaction for them. It is part of the growing importance of circular economy on the part of the manufacturers, to take advantage of each car like the pigs: even their walk.
Stellantis will be in business through the subsidiary Stellantis&You, Sales and Services, which will be the majority shareholder of the French company Stimcar. This company is dedicated to the reconditioning of used vehicles, whether from Stellantis or from other manufacturers.
As Stellantis’ experience with Stimcar has been satisfactory for some time, the manufacturer will take control of the company, but will maintain autonomy in its management and development. It also trusts the same directors who founded it, Jean-François and Yann Brazeau, who will continue in their positions, as well as all its employees.
Stimcar has several operating centers in the French cities of Bordeaux, Nantes and Toulouse. Has international expansion ambitions, for which he needed the investment of a large company. Thanks to the money from Stellantis, Stimcar will be able to expand to other European markets -such as Spain- from 2023.
And the company will be able to continue doing it as before, since they will not have to exclusively recondition Stellantis cars. Your existing client portfolio will continue to be served. For this business to be profitable, the reconditioning centers have to be relatively close to the origin of the cars.
Stimcar’s international expansion will allow its workforce to continue to grow, as each reconditioning center will need more manpower to deal with a growing volume of second-hand vehicles so that they are in the best possible condition.
On the Stimcar website there is an interactive graphic explaining the different stages of the reconditioning process
Stellantis has a used vehicle business area under the Spoticar brand. The vehicles that have completed a cycle of leasing, or that customers give in exchange for a new model. The cars are reconditioned to facilitate their sale, and are returned to the market.
Several manufacturers are seeing a vein in the reinforcement of their used car businesses because they give the customer an image of greater quality and seriousness, or that is the theory. Refurbishers work with various brands, both their own and those of third parties.
In the case of Stimcar, Stellantis was satisfied with its work -as one more client- for its «rigorous industrial process, based on its IT skills and innovative flow management». The Stellantis VOs were being refurbished in the center of Nantes.
Spoticar puts used cars of any brand back into circulation
In our country there is already a center of these characteristics working for Autoworld, the used division of the Renault Group, which has facilities in Ávila where the cars are thoroughly inspected, they fix whatever needs to be fixed and they are impeccable. In addition, there will be a larger-scale reconditioning center at the Seville factory. Toyota announced its intentions to do the same in the UK.
All this has a purpose, and that is make more cash with used vehicles which, inevitably, end up under the responsibility of the dealer network. The profit is achieved by increasing the efficiency of the processes, not compromising quality with respect to customers.
The European second-hand market has a lot of potential and manufacturers are increasingly interested in it. In theory, everyone wins, except for small and medium-sized sales and workshop businesses, which can lose work if the big ones take away part of the work.