Motor Trend CPO Program Outsells Kia, Porsche

Edward Niedermeyer
by Edward Niedermeyer

I know what you’re thinking: “What is a magazine publisher doing certifying pre-owned vehicles?” The answer: selling a lot of cars. Motor Trend’s Certified Pre-Owned (CPO) program, which certifies vehicles and dealers and offers some service features, sold more vehicles last year than Kia or Porsche’s in-house CPO programs, at 10,010 units sold. Which raises questions about both the nature of consumer demands and the efficacy of some of these OEM CPO programs. For one thing, it’s not at all clear why consumers seek out a new car magazine’s stamp of approval on a used car. After all, would you rather have your car certified by its manufacturer or by the magazine that picked the ’97 Malibu and 2002 Thunderbird as its Car Of The Year? Not that Motor Trend has anything to do with its eponymous CPO program, mind you, as that is operated by EasyCare. And that firm has some 2.6m current service contracts, a number that puts MT’s 10k units into perspective. But the real question here is how do CPO sales by brands like Porsche, Kia and Jaguar get beat by a magazine? Given that EasyCare also administers the official Volvo, Mazda, and Jaguar CPO programs, isn’t it a bit odd that the Motor Trend-branded program sells nearly as many cars (or, in the case of Jaguar, more)?


Edward Niedermeyer
Edward Niedermeyer

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  • SherbornSean SherbornSean on Mar 15, 2011

    Does the Motor Trend CPO program include a free oil change with genuine Car and Driver motor oil?

  • Joeveto3 Joeveto3 on Mar 15, 2011

    I only use Road & Track Nitrogen in my tires. I tried other brands, but my mileage was 3% better with R&T Nitrogen. My brother-in-law tried some generic nitrogen, and he sure paid for it!

  • Zackman Zackman on Mar 15, 2011

    If the TTAC "thumbs up/down" logo ever appears on anything in a serious endorsement nature, then I'll be worried. It sounds like print media are scrambling to somehow survive. JB may try something with the logo in a satirical vein, though. I'm waiting...eagerly...!

  • I_Like_Pie I_Like_Pie on Mar 15, 2011

    "Road and Track Certification" is to cars what "Bathroom sanitized by swisher" is to toilets

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