by Bennett Oghifo
One of Nigeria’s tech-enabled automotive trade platforms, Cars45, has reiterated its commitment to buying and selling within Nigeria’s automotive industry.
They also want to define the future of automotive trade across the country by providing consumers brand experience that helps them with smarter choices.
Cars45, founded in 2016, provides an end-to-end digitized customer journey for buying and selling cars for individuals and corporate organisations with a desire to help them get the most value from any automotive transaction.
Briefing the press in Lagos recently, Chief Executive Officer, Cars45, Soumobroto “Sunny” Ganguly stated that meeting the needs and expectations of its customers and stakeholders will remain a major imperative even as the company intensifies efforts at solving the challenges across the automotive value chain from new, to used, logistics, aftermarket and repair services and scrap vehicles while the business continues to grow on the back of innovation and technology.
“Cars45 has moved into over twelve cities across Nigeria and two others in Africa, we have a growing franchise dealer network coupled with our Autopreneur support system that has empowered so many young people financially, and our marketplace has exceeded expectations in facilitating consumer-to-consumer vehicle trades and making the car ownership dreams of lots of people come true. We are confident in our ability to deliver and the strength of our mission to enable automotive trade across the continent.”
On the recent management changes, the CEO noted that Frontier Car Group (FCG), which invested in Cars45 Series A fund raise in May 2017, was acquired by OLX Group in November 2019 to demonstrate their ambition to lead the online market for used cars. Cars45 has now been fully integrated as a proud member of the OLX Autos family.
Cars45 announced some products offerings that include: GoMechanic45, an aftermarket service aimed at providing quality and affordable car repair services for consumers and corporates, deepening the culture of preventive maintenance and scheduled servicing in a manner that helps them to maximize the lifetime value of their vehicles.
Institutional and Corporate Sales will cater to corporate and government institutions by solving issues around fleet liquidation and valuation as well as supply while adding value to their automotive needs and unlocking new levers of growth and productivity.
International Trade services christened as EasyShipDirect is an end-to-end importation service that will facilitate the acquisition of clean titled cars into the country, help the government realize revenue via the payment of import duties and
Lastly, Cars45 has partnered financial institutions – fintechs and banks to provide vehicle financing services to both consumers and car dealers with a view to removing long-standing barriers to car ownership and help grow the pool of car owners across the country.
The company also noted that its expansion into Kenya and Ghana is growing while strengthening its partnerships with car manufacturers and OEMs that include KIA, Kelwarams and CFAO with a view to facilitating new car sales and ownership.
Also speaking during the briefing, Head, Marketing and Communications, Shola Adekoya reiterated the company’s commitment to driving the growth of the automotive sector in Nigeria and ensuring that car-buying and ownership becomes a seamless, safe and secure experience for consumers. “We take our responsibility of providing quality service offerings underpinned by transparency and integrity very seriously. It is incumbent upon us to develop value-based products that will enhance value creation for the Nigerian used cars marketplace.”
Head, Lead Management & Marketplace; Patricia Duru noted that Cars45 has prioritized the delivery of a transformative customer experience for all stakeholders even as its marketplace provides value and variety for consumers.
The event had in attendance senior management executives from Cars45 that include: Head, Finance, Elizabeth Iyi-Eweka; Head, Technical Operations, Pankaj Bohra and Head, People Operations and Central Support Services, Olajumoke Obembe amongst others.
