Sunday Ehigiator
With an aim of bringing automobile services closer to the people, Cars45 through its retail arm, Carsbazr, has launched a new franchise with De-Feon Automobiles.
The franchise which was the second in less than two months was in accordance with the goal of the company to make automobile service affordable.
In an interview with THISDAY, the Chief Executive Officer, Cars45, Mr. Etop Ikpe, said, “For us it is really about taking our products to our customers’ door step. Our brand promise is to provide affordable and verifiable cars with a lot of varieties to customers.
“So when you have a great product which we have spent the last three years working out, our goal now is to begin to take the products closer to the consumers.
“Basically, our platform has always been built on our dealers and right now, we are empowering our dealers to take up franchises with our brand, theirs as well, and get it closer to the consumers, thereby consumers are able to access affordable, verified, local or foreign used cars at the best prices.
“So for us, it is really about taking the product and quality of service directly to the consumers.
“Even though right now, we do brand new cars, we work with some local Operations Administration and Maintenance (OAM) agencies to help them distribute their cars, but we have always had focus on used cars.
“And the used cars space is where we see a lot of Nigerians playing in, even though we do some level of brand new cars, but primarily we trade in verified used cars.
“By franchising, it brings our distribution closer. Our goal is that Nigerians don’t have to travel beyond 20 minutes before getting access to our brand. And that is what we are trying to bring closer to the people. We know that the program that we have, affects a lot of people, and it is something that a lot of people want to reach, and to us, this is the fastest way for us to reach a lot of people.
“Most of the people coming into our franchise are not new; we have been trading and working with them for over two years. “So it is something that is coming from within, whereby we have worked with them closely and understand their service quality. Because it is not just about going to the customer, but going to the customer with the right products, and consistently maintaining high quality service.
“A month ago when we launched our first franchise, and mentioned we would be rolling out more, a lot of people may have doubted, but as you can see, we are living up to our words.
“For now, they are just within Lagos even though we have a lot of demands outside Lagos, but very soon, we would break into other parts of the country, and the plans are on already. “
Also speaking with THISDAY, the Chief Executive Officer, De-Feon Automobiles, Joshua Olukitibi said, “We all know that Car45 is a bigger brand that has come to stay in the automobile industry, and so they have a baby company called Carsbazr, which is like the retail arm of Cars45.
“So this franchise now allows us in our own company to do business the way Cars45 does it. The idea is about trying to run an open system.
“The problem before now has always been that buyers do not know the real condition of vehicles before they buy them, they best price you can get it from, so many middle men and all that.”
