Infiniti, the latest marque to arrive in the UK, is developing a guaranteed buy-back scheme.

The scheme will set a guaranteed price at which Infiniti’s Reading dealer – the only one so far in the country – will buy the cars back from fleet and lease buyers.

This means it will carry much of the residual value risk of its new range, which is set to expand with the arrival of V6 diesel models and, in the autumn, the M Line sporting four-door saloon.

The new marque currently has five models available, comprising the G37 Saloon, Coupé and Convertible, the EX37 coupé crossover and the FX sports crossover. 

“We are very willing to enter into buy-back,” said Infiniti Reading managing director Paul Atkinson. “We are very confident about our residual values.”

The deal will ensure Infiniti ex-fleet vehicles come back into the new marque’s dealer network, which is set to expand with the opening of outlets in Birmingham and Glasgow this year.

These new outlets will adopt the same buy-back scheme.
“We want to keep all of the used vehicles within the network,” said Atkinson.

“We still think our RVs are underrated given our business model – they could be stronger and we are prepared to reflect that on buy backs.”

That business model is an order-build only, so there should never be excess new stock. With guaranteed buy-back the company is attempting to ensure the used market is also covered.

However, CAP’s Mark Norman was sceptical the buy-back offer will work. “It has been tried before. Vauxhall, Rover and Daewoo have all tried similar schemes in the past, but they tend to be mostly ignored by leasing companies because real world contract hire rarely matches ideal world conditions,” he said.

“In the real world cars can have accidents, miss the odd service by a few miles, go over contract mileage or period. For any scheme to be successful it will have to take these factors into account.”

The residual values on Infiniti are respectable: the £30,470 base G37 3.7-litre petrol saloon for example will retain 29% of its value after three years/ 60,000 miles, while the £32,610 BMW 335i SE retains 32%.