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发帖数: 1251 | 1 http://www.autoweek.com/article/20120305/CARNEWS/120309911&temp
Danielle Emerson, Automotive News : March 5, 2012 - 4:48 pm ET
Fiat dealerships will certify and sell used vehicles of any brand, as part
of Chrysler Group's Diversified Certified program, launched Monday.
The program, which offers a Chrysler Group warranty on a certified pre-owned
vehicle of any brand, will be opened to dealers selling Chrysler, Dodge,
Jeep and Ram brands in about 60 days.
"Just because we didn't build the vehicle, doesn't mean we won't back it
with a Chrysler Group warranty," Eric Swanson, head of certified pre-owned
vehicles at Chrysler, said in a statement.
"We always want our customers to visit our dealers and purchase a new or
certified pre-owned Chrysler Group model, but now we have given them another
option to consider."
To be eligible for the program, vehicles will have to have fewer than 48,000
miles on the odometer and be a 2008 model or newer, Chrysler said. Once
they are certified, those vehicles will have a warranty which is good for
five years or 60,000 miles from original in-service date, Swanson told
Automotive News in a phone interview.
"Most of these 140 Fiat dealers also have Chrysler stores," Swanson said. "
We thought it was a good chance to bring attention to [the Fiat] brand, and
Fiat just had some great sales last month, so it's a good time to try it out
with those guys."
In February, Fiat had its best sales month since its launch. Sales of the
Fiat 500 jumped 69 percent to 3,227 units. Industrywide sales rose 16
percent, while Chrysler Group's sales climbed 42 percent.
The 140 Fiat dealerships across the United States have had slow sales,
almost no service business and no supply of used Fiats. The new program
therefore appears to be at least in part an attempt to aid those dealers'
cash flow.
Swanson said statistics have shown that used-vehicle profits tend to be
higher with certified pre-owned vehicles, making that reason alone a good
reason to do it. A dealership's new-car and finance and insurance
departments also can benefit from a strong certified used program.
"There are all kinds of possibilities now that we didn't have before," he
said. "If we have the customer come back to our stores, we have endless
possibilities of selling them a new vehicle, a certified pre-owned vehicle,
extended warranty or whatever else."
Certified used-vehicle programs are almost always limited to the brand that
the franchised dealer sells. One of the few previous programs that offered
certification to other brands' used cars and trucks was offered by Saturn
which, like Fiat, had small sales and no pool of its own used vehicles in
its early days. |
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