The online used-car website will feed into PSA Group’s existing used-car sales operations which already sell about 400,000 cars a year.
The diverse business strategy sees the PSA Group spending the war chest on startups for used cars, car sharing, parking, online spare parts and a vehicle service and repair-quoting service for independent repairers as well as for its own dealers.
Under the name Free2Move, the investments highlight a new direction for car-makers as they face threats from new vehicle technologies and an explosion of disruptive business models set to change the face of the car industry.
PSA Group’s plan appears to be designed to nail down the peripheries of the automotive industry and bundle them to provide a direct customer service mechanism.
By seeking new businesses outside manufacturing and wholesaling cars, PSA Group would also have a sufficiently broad business portfolio to deflect any threat from the expansion of car sharing and autonomous vehicles by other parties.
If it achieves this, it may also have the ability to freeze out its traditional rivals which remain solely as manufacturers.
PSA Group last month bought 30 per cent of French used-car online retailer Aramisauto for an undisclosed sum. It was one of many left-field investments made within the past year using the $145 million “future fund”.
PSA Group CEO Carlos Tavares
Aramisauto has one million unique online visitors a month and also offers a telephone service. It has 24 branches in France and, in the past 12 months, has sold 32,000 vehicles.
PSA said its interest in used cars lies in the sales in 2015 of 5.6 million used cars compared with 2.3 million new cars.
The move into used cars comes after PSA’s purchase in July of a majority share, estimated at costing up to $A43 million, in European online car repair-quote business, Auto Butler. This gives PSA inroads into Europe’s automotive repair business and a ready return on its investment.
PSA also has an automotive parts company called Mister Auto that it bought last year. It is on record as wanting a five-fold increase in sales through this company.
Then, in the same month, PSA bought the majority of French parking solutions firm TravelerCar, a company that started in 2012 by combining parking and a peer-to-peer rental service in the same manner as Australia’s Carhood.
PSA has this year also invested in a European car-sharing business Koolicar and, in a move outside of Europe, bought into a Canadian car-share company called Communauto that is poised to launch into the US.
PSA Group also plans to launch its own car-sharing services in Los Angeles in partnership with Bollore Group.
PSA Group CEO Carlos Tavares said when launching the group’s “Push To Pass” strategy that PSA would become “the standard in mobility service providers”.
The strategy would also expand its network outside of new cars, increase its customer base and attract new businesses, such as additional repair shops to its Auto Butler group.
It is also possible that its dealerships would have a more diverse, and potentially more lucrative, portfolio.
PSA said the $145 million fund had been created to invest in mobility startups and will be contained beneath the umbrella unit called Free2Move, a concept integral with “Push To Pass”.
In Australia, Peugeot, Citroen and DS Australia general manager Kai Bruesewitz said he was looking “with much interest” at the investments by PSA Group into mobility startups such as Auto Butler, Aramisauto and TravelerCar.
“While we think all three businesses are exciting opportunities, we are not aware of any discussions about making them available in Australia at this point in time,” he said.
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What PSA Group is creating
FREE2MOVE:
Free2Move is PSA’s umbrella mobility initiative that will guide the company strategy through to 2021 – a date when the strategy is expected to be finalised. Some of the more recent businesses under Free2Move are listed below and more are expected to follow. They will range from car-sharing and connected services to new concepts in car rental and fleet management, financing, insurance and reselling.
ARAMISAUTO:
Founded in France in 2001, it had a turnover of $A520 million in 2015. It displays cars for sale to one million unique visitors each month on its site, but also offers services via telephone and has 24 branches in France. In the past 12 months it has sold 32,000 vehicles. It also offers customers reconditioned cars with a money-back guarantee and home pick-up and delivery.
AUTO BUTLER:
This online company allows customers to receive three repair quotes from affiliated garages. It started in Denmark in 2010 and is now also in Sweden, Germany and the UK. It has 4000 affiliated garages and has 250,000 customers since inception. PSA Group dealers will be able to bid for work but it will mean PSA’s own network of franchised dealers are competing directly with independents for repair work.
MISTER AUTO:
Started in 2008 in France and part of PSA from 2015. It is the biggest European vehicle spare parts company with more than two-million customers and has nearly 12,000 orders a day. It has 63 delivery options and 30 different payment methods. It has online ordering and its site attracts about five million visitors a month.
TRAVELERCAR:
TravelerCar offers free parking for travelers at airports, seaports and train stations in 80 locations in France, Spain, Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany and Switzerland. It started in 2012 in France. It also includes a rental car service using customers’ parked cars. It has 100,000 users and in March this year, raised $A7.2 million to fund expansion.
KOOLICAR:
Launched in France in 2012, Koolicar is a car rental company using car-share principles. Car owners – private or corporate – can rent their unused car on an hourly or daily basis and receive income while renters have access to budget-priced hire cars throughout France. All transactions – including payments and access to the location of the car and its keys – are done by smartphone. PSA bought into the company in April.
By Neil Dowling
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