Pre-owned, secondhand, “lightly wrecked” – there are all sorts of euphemisms to describe cars that aren’t new. Chrysler’s got a fresh one – “brand spankin’ used” – and, perhaps more importantly, the company has also struck a deal with four “used-vehicle search engines.”
Cars.com, AutoTrader.com, AutoMart.com, and AutoExtra.com will all employ that silly term. They’ll also list every Chrysler, Dodge, and Jeep Certified Pre-Owned Vehicle (CPOV) that’s located in an American dealer’s inventory. Want a real figure? A press release stated that the agreement will result in “more than 20,000” vehicles being listed each day.
For a point of comparison, Bud Place, Chrysler’s senior manager of used vehicle sales and marketing, said, “Previously, approximately 800 of our dealers posted their CPO vehicles on at least one of the major search-engine internet Web sites. Of that group, select dealers posted on more than one site which totaled about 10,000 CPO vehicles to search.”
So we’re seeing an improvement of over 100 percent – that has to make Chrysler’s new owners at Cerberus smile. Of course, it’s possible that they’re the ones who dreamed this up; after all, Cerberus is already unrolling a multi-platform ad campaign, and the search engine arrangement probably took much less time to iron out.
In any event, “The New Chrysler” seems to be taking search – and its used cars – seriously. Here’s hoping future Chryslers benefit from that attitude, as well.
