Huang Yi, Chairman of car dealer Zhongsheng Group, expects growth in the market for reliable second-hand cars to outpace new car sales in the coming years. “Right now we don’t even have a item on our income statement for second-hand sales … but this is going to be a huge and very important factor for us,” he said. “I think in the next few years sales of used cars will grow at more than 20%,” he added. The company has confirmed plans to open its first Jaguar Land Rover dealership, in Shandong province, next year, and approvals are pending for its first Volvo showroom in Fujian province. Zhongsheng plans to increase its number of showrooms from the present 114 to almost 140 by the end of this year and 180 by late 2012. All Zhongsheng dealerships that have been in business for more than a year are stepping into the second-hand car market, when they begin to build a stock of cars that have been traded for purchases of new cars. For now, most of these are sold on to the lightly regulated second-hand car trading markets, in which consumers do not have much trust. If dealerships would sell second-hand cars themselves, trust would rise, as they would offer a full maintenance history of the vehicle, as well as a warranty. Second-hand car sales account for about a third of revenue for most dealers in the U.S., while the percentage in China remains negligible. The second-hand vehicle market in China posted stronger sales growth in the first seven months of this year. More than 2.3 million second-hand vehicles were sold, an increase of 14.9% from a year earlier. The growth outstripped a 2.3% increase in new car sales, which totaled 10.5 million units during the period. Total revenue from second-hand vehicle transactions grew 12% to CNY10.6 billion. Out-of-town demand for used vehicles was particularly strong after cities such as Beijing adopted a numberplate-based quota scheme to limit vehicle numbers, curbing local demand.