SK C&C and carsales.com Joint Venture Formally Announced

 

 

SK C&C hosted an opening ceremony with Australia's Carsales.com (www.carsales.com.au) in Sheraton Grande Walkerhill Hotel April 16, marking the signing agreement between shareholders and the start of the global automobile business SK Encarsales.com.  Ten officials including SK C&C’s President & CEO Chung Chul-khil and carsales.com's CEO and Managing Director Greg Roebuck attended the event, vowing to work closely in their push for global marketing and sales.  

SK Encarsales.com is a joint venture between SK C&C and carsales.com.  It was established when SK C&C divested its stake in SK Encarsales.com’s parent company SK Encar, Korea's leading automotive trading business, by selling 249,999 shares, or 49.9 percent of the total shares to Carsales.com.  As such, SK C&C has retained majority of the shareholding, and SK Encarsales.com has become its subsidiary.  SK C&C will later appoint its managing director Park Sung-cheol as the first CEO of SK Encarsales.com.   

SK Encarsales.com plans to expand its vehicle diagnostics and certification business abroad.  Furthermore, it will add commercial vehicles to the retail operation, which has traditionally relied on sales of consumer automobiles.

SK Encarsales.com will provide retail service for parts and accessories.  A new search engine and a directory will be introduced on the website, integrating the shared knowledge and technologies of SK C&C and carsales.com.  SK Encarsales.com will also develop additional service menus by surveying consumers and automobile dealers.

 

 

In addition, SK Encarsales.com will feature expert reviews of domestic and foreign automobiles, and cover topics, such as test drives and maintenance. The content will be provided in multimedia format containing images, video clips and music, to give consumers sneak peak at the vehicles with detailed footage and photos taken from field-tests.

SK Encarsales.com will work toward improving reliability of the used vehicle industry and promote the rights of small and medium-sized dealers and consumers in Northeast Asia by stamping out false advertising and securing transparent trades, all based on the advanced online trade services fully established in Austria and Korea.

President & CEO Chung said, “We will work to make SK Encarsales.com a stepping stone for Korea’s auto businesses to advance into the Northeast Asian market, including China and Japan. This will be done by creating and maintaining a standardized platform for global auto trade, which will provide all necessary auto-related information to the consumers via online and mobile.”

Roebuck said, “SK C&C and carsales.com are the optimal partners for Encarsales.com’s global growth, and, using the synergetic effects between two of us and offering related technologies, services, know-how, and various auto-related content, we will ensure the tangible growth of Encarsales.com.”