Toyota is piloting a short-term maintenance programme in Norway, Denmark and France that will shorten the trade cycle and give retailers the opportunity of selling the car more often.

Trade Cycle Management is a 2-3 year leasing product that includes maintenance. The scheme is more of a one-stop shop Personal Contract Hire plan than traditional PCP.

Such initiatives have so far met with little success in the UK, although similar products are popular in America and some European countries.

Few carmakers have all-inclusive leasing plans for retail customers, however.

Andrea Formica, Toyota Motor Europe senior vice- president, sales and aftersales, hopes to introduce the product into other countries, but said it needs the support of Toyota Financial Service.

“It is almost criminal to sell a Toyota only once. With the value of the product there is an opportunity for dealers to sell to more than one owner,” he said.

“With the shortening of the trade cycle, more people will be interested in mobility solutions rather than owning the car.

“It needs to have the right selling technique and technology and needs a consistent approach. We have dealers who operate on a shorter trade cycle basis and their profits benefit greatly from it.”

Dealers who buy into the programme are achieving more than 10% of their sales mix with the new product.

“It is an ideal solution for companies like Toyota because it creates a factory of certified used cars which could represent valuable source of profit for dealers,” added Formica.