FRENCH supermarket chain Carrefour will start to sell car leasing to retail customers later this year.

Carrefour will work with Lease Plan to deliver the leasing service under the CarPlan name.

ABN AMRO Lease Holding chairman Hugo Levecke said: 'We are going to sell consumer lease formulas in a 50/50 joint-venture with mass distributor Carrefour in France.

'Carrefour has 200 hypermarkets in France and 500 worldwide. France is a test case, if the results are satisfactory, we will find similar partners all over Europe with the same growth potential.

'The main advantage of this formula is that car manufacturers remain our partners - we both care for consumer-oriented solutions.'

The CarPlan project is the culmination of two years of research. It is to start in October or November and will be headed by former Lease Plan France chief Jean Lagrange. (May 2000)