BEIJING - Volkswagen last week opened a used car center in Beijing with China Automobile Trading Co Ltd (CATC) to cash in on the fledgling segment.

The European auto giant's certified pre-owned vehicle brand Das WeltAuto will be introduced at the center, which the company said will help improve industry standards in China.

Das WeltAuto - the world car - is Volkswagen's global initiative to provide guaranteed used cars.

All certified cars must pass inspection on more than 130 items and are eligible for a 12-month, 25,000-km warranty.

Car owners often go to Volkswagen's dealer outlets to trade in their vehicles as part of the payment on a new car, with dealers then wholesaling the used cars.

A new outlet will be the recently formed center, which is named CATC Turntable by Das WeltAuto.

The center will inspect and renovate cars to make sure they meet Das WeltAuto standards and then sell them to individual buyers or dealers, said Volkswagen Group China.

Customers can also trade in other brand cars at VW dealerships, the company said.

Between January and April this year, China's used car sales totaled more than 1.22 million units, up 11 percent from the same period last year, according to the latest statistics from China Automobile Dealers Association.

CATC president Ding Hongxiang forecasts the country's used car market will see annual growth of more than 20 percent in the next three years.

In Beijing, used car sales last month reached 29,700 units, the second consecutive month-on-month increase this year.

Ding said that used car sales in Beijing were almost the same as new cars sales in May.

Last year, the pre-owned car market in the capital city was 60 percent of the size of the new car market.

Volkswagen said it plans to set up more such centers in other cities in the country and eventually build a national network for used cars.

The ultimate purpose is to increase new car sales, and the trade in approach boosts sales, especially in Beijing where car license plates are limited, the company said.

China Daily