Stellantis Looks to Africa to Grow Used-Car Sales

Stellantis is hoping to cash in on globally robust used-car prices stemming from the chip shortage’s squeeze on new-vehicle availability by expanding into Africa.

The automaker group has teamed up with Africar Group to launch sales activities of that company’s new subsidiary, Auto24, based in Abidjan on the Ivory Coast. Auto24 is a direct-to-consumer used-car company that claims transactions are conducted transparently and securely.

Stellantis has taken a stake in Auto24 in a bid to tap into a market that will see an African population expected to reach 1.7 billion by 2030 and with a current vehicle fleet of about 50 million vehicles. The automaker says its investment is a new building block in its global strategy to develop its mobility-solutions portfolio.

Africar Group claims to be the continent’s leading online automotive marketplace network, operating in more than 40 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa. In the Middle East and Africa, Stellantis currently is only the third-largest automaker but aims to become the leader in the region, expecting to sell more than 1 million new vehicles per year by 2030.

Xavier Duchemin, senior vice president of the pre-owned vehicles business unit at Stellantis says: “This investment in Africar Group to create Auto24 reinforces our strategy to grow our used-vehicle business activity globally in a bold, pragmatic and agile way.”