Andre Worrell
There is a surprising new entry into the country’s foreign used car industry.
Toyota T&T Ltd’s (TTTL) managing director Andre E Baptiste confirmed yesterday that the company has been selling foreign used vehicles since January.
“We are testing the market,” Baptiste told the T&T Guardian in a telephone interview.
“We receive used cars directly from the Toyota used car division in Japan, so as such all the used vehicles we sell are fully Toyota certified.”
Baptiste said TTTL, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Toyota Tsusho Corporation of Japan, had applied to the Ministry of Trade for a used car dealers licence more than six years ago, but was only granted the licence in May 2015. The company’s first shipment of foreign used cars arrived in the country last September.
“We had to go through a rigorous testing process from the Bureau of Standards and the other testing agencies, so we only began selling cars in January of this year,” he said.
Baptiste said, however, that he didn’t expect the company’s latest venture to adversely affect other used car dealers because under the licence, the company is allowed to sell a very limited number of cars.
“For the entire year the licence only allows us to bring in 15 cars, so in no way will this have any major impact on the other dealers in the market for foreign used cars,” he said.
He said part of the motivation for selling foreign used cars was to capture a cross-section of the market for which their new cars may be too expensive.
He explained: “The price point for the used cars we are selling is roughly between $100,000 and $140,000. So we’re really trying to offer a more affordable option to the lower end of the market.”
He described the company’s foreign used vehicles as Grade A and between four and five years old.
But Baptiste’s enthusiasm was not shared by president of the T&T Automotive Dealers Association (TTDA), Visham Babwah, who expressed alarm that a significant player in T&T’s new car market had been allowed to sell foreign used cars.
He said in the past, new car dealers had criticised TTADA members for importing cars, saying they were “suited for the dump.”
“I am very much surprised...(as to) why the new car company would want to venture into the foreign used car industry,” he told the T&T Guardian.
He said new car dealers already have a share of the car market, while the foreign used segment was “designed for the small man or the person who was trying to get into business.
“I don’t want it to appear that we are afraid of competition, or a different rule for us and a different rule for them. My real concern is if after they have sold 15 cars, if they will be allowed to get additional quotas?” he said.
“I am not sure if they really have only 15 cars, because I cannot see how a company like Toyota Trinidad Limited would think that they would earn any sort of revenue, or that it would affect their business so much more with 15 cars when they are selling thousands of cars for the year.”
Babwah said he also wants the Trade Ministry to provide clarification on the foreign used quotas granted to new car dealers.
— Additional reporting by Nadaleen Singh