By Jonah Nwokpoku

Online vehicle marketplace, Carmudi.com has said that Nigerian used cars remain the best selling cars online, as about 2,400 Nigerian used cars are sold through the platform monthly. Carmudi’s Head of Operations for Africa, Mohammed Iyamu told Vanguard that of the 3,000 Nigerian used cars that are listed on the website monthly, 80 per cent are sold.

He said: “Carmudi has a total of 3,000 Nigerian used cars on site, the 3,000 being an average number which sits there on a monthly basis. At the end of every month we do a check on majority of these cars and find out that they are sold. We upload an average of 200 Nigerian used vehicles every week, which brings us to 800 vehicles a month on an average. We keep in touch with every single seller on a monthly basis and records show that over 80 per cent of these cars are sold. This brings us up to 2,400 sold Nigerian used cars in a month.”

He added: “Given that we do not record total sales on the website, I cannot give a conversion on total sales, however I can tell that Nigerian used cars sell faster and more because they are affordable and every Nigerian wants to own a car because we do not have standard transport systems.” Founded in 2013, Carmudi operates in Nigeria and nineteen other countries in emerging markets, offering buyers, sellers and car dealers the platform to find cars, motorcycles and commercial vehicles online.

Last month Carmudi Nigeria said it recorded a 30 per cent increase in total visits, particularly in iOS visits where it saw over 700 per cent growth since it was launched in February, 2015. The online marketplace which is backed by African Internet Group also said it has  attracted 6.4 million monthly visitors during the second quarter of 2015, a 17.6 per cent increase over Q1.

The vehicle marketplace also recently named a new head for Carmudi Nigeria, Amy Muoneke who told journalists that Carmudi will continue to innovate to take advantage of the opportunities provided by the growing e-commerce trends in the country. She also disclosed that some auto dealers in the country are being inspired by the new auto policy to start local production of cars in Nigeria.

She said: “E-commerce will keep growing. We have started a segment where we do interviews with CEOs of car dealerships. The one we just concluded was with the Chief Executive of Lanre Shittu Motors, Mr. Lanre Shittu and I asked him what his stake was on the new auto policy, and he said that most of them have started making moves to start manufacturing vehicles locally.

So a lot of these dealers from what we understand have already started making progress towards manufacturing because just like any set up, we have to comfortably sustain ourselves before we can grow. So a lot of these auto dealers are making moves towards making investments that will help towards manufacturing some of the things they need to start local production.

“Everyone is channelling towards ecommerce and it will keep influencing the way people buy things. E-commerce will continue growing because every sector of the economy now has started investing in e-commerce. This is because e-commerce provides easy access to information and convenience. And in a country like Nigeria where it is difficult to move around, the convenience that e-commerce offers cannot be overestimated.”