Product leasing: a strategy to allow manufacturers and customers to benefit from elongation of product life

International development means that the number of people who can be considered as consumers is projected to triple by 2030. This is good news but if we consume goods in the same way as people did in the 20th Century it will lead to an unsustainable rise in industrial greenhouse gas emission and contribute towards material scarcities. The old axioms of maintaining profits by high turnover of low profit margins goods, and boosting demand by releasing new models need to be reconsidered for a sustainable future. The key point is that people’s needs are met by using goods not just acquiring them. One way of reducing the demand for new goods is to use old ones for longer. This study looked at second hand car data and concluded that cars are scraped when they have a low market value not when they are worn out. It follows that if the second hand value can be raised, cars could potentially be used for longer. One way of increasing the value of a second hand item to a business is to value it as a future profit generator as well as its market value. A long term lease model has been considered and found to be potentially beneficial to both the supplier and customer.