WM Motor, an electric vehicle maker backed by Baidu, confirmed with KrASIA on Thursday that the company is planning to launch a secondhand car trading platform. The company claimed it is the first EV maker to develop a platform of this function.
A WM spokesman told KrASIA that this platform is still in its planning and development phase as the company only started to hand over vehicles to buyers nine months ago, meaning there is still limited demand for secondhand EVs. In the first seven months of this year, WM has delivered more than 9,000 vehicles to buyers, according to Wang Jing, who leads the company’s secondhand vehicle department.
WM Motor’s formation of a trading platform for pre-owned EVs signals to its clients that there will be a channel to offload the vehicles when they are ready to purchase new ones, the WM spokesperson said. At the moment, there are no standards for determining the residual values for used EVs.
The spokesperson said WM’s platform may go online within the year for a trial run, allowing EV owners to use the site to check the value of their WM electric cars, though other brands may also offer data to be listed.