LOS ANGELES — American Honda Motor Co. is increasing its licensed pre-owned program to incorporate 10-year-old Honda and Acura automobiles.

The prolonged applications, referred to as HondaTrue Used and Acura Precision Used, are designed to attract youthful, budget-minded customers to supplier tons.

“We needed to make it simple for brand new patrons to expertise our model,” Dan Rodriguez, supervisor of auto remarketing at American Honda informed Automotive Information. “We actually take a look at this growth as a vital approach to herald new prospects to our model — sort of a gateway product,”

The older Honda automobiles, which don’t have any mileage limitations, solely obtain a 100-day or 5,000-mile manufacturer-backed guarantee. That is considerably lower than the seven-year/100,000-mile powertrain protection offered on HondaTrue Licensed + and Licensed automobiles, which collectively cowl calmly used, present mannequin yr automobiles, in addition to 2-year to 5-year-old Hondas.

On the Acura aspect, Precision Used automobiles obtain a six-month/7,500-mile guarantee.

Acura Precision Licensed automobiles, that are as much as six years previous or 80,000 miles, get the identical 7 yr/ 100,000-mile powertrain protection.

However the prolonged licensed applications are supposed to give patrons confidence on the entrance finish of the shopping for course of, understanding that their older automobile has been licensed by Honda technicians.

Every TrueUsed automobile goes by means of a 112-point guidelines that’s posted on-line for patrons to evaluate.

“We’re going by means of an intensive guidelines to guarantee that the automotive is introduced as much as a sure commonplace,” Rodriguez stated, citing brake pads for example. “The technicians are required to notice the extent of damage on the brake pads, and if they don’t seem to be inside a sure commonplace, these brake pads shall be changed.”

The brand new program might assist Honda compete in opposition to the rising market penetration of used-vehicle marketplaces resembling CarMax, Carvana and Vroom, which promote closely to youthful patrons and conduct a lot of their enterprise in digital environments.

The automaker has been steadily increasing the scope of its CPO applications lately. Rodriguez stated Honda was a pioneer in placing its licensed used stock on-line. Now, he stated, “we’re the primary producer to digitize this course of,” referring to the corporate’s on-line entry to the certification checklists Honda supplies.

The U.S. used automotive market is bigger than the brand new automotive market, which is making it ripe for disruption. Final yr, used patrons wolfed up 40 million automobiles, practically triple the 15 million new vehicles and vans bought in 2021.

“With all this noise on the market, all these new gamers available in the market are seeing this large 40 million quantity and considering how they will seize their share,” Rodriguez stated. This yr the used-car market may also finish near 40 million gross sales and stay “fertile” due to new-car provide shortages, he stated.

The expanded program, he stated, “is a approach of bringing on this youthful shopper, then graduating them to our licensed pre-owned product, after which ultimately getting them into a brand new automotive.”

That cycle ought to assist Honda and Acura sellers replenish their used automotive inventories.

“We actually need to preserve our prospects inside our community,” he stated. “And we predict our greatest supply of stock would be the Honda Licensed vehicles that the client is trying to commerce in.”