Mercedes-Benz launches new finance schemes to attract buyers in dull market

Mercedes-Benz India, the luxury car market leader, has launched a slew of aggressive schemes for owning or leasing a vehicle to attract buyers in a dull market.

A ‘Wishbox’ scheme includes a zero and lower down payment plan; also, an aggressive offer that allows customers to own two cars in a span of four years. With the new offers, the India arm of the German entity hopes to ‘financially empower the customer’ and ‘invoke confidence and create additional traction’.

The automobile market in India is currently facing one of its worst slowdowns in two decades. An overall slowing in consumption, exacerbated by a liquidity issue, has weighed on sentiment, pushing auto sales into a slow lane for a year.

Luxury cars — defined as those priced above Rs 2.5 million each and accounting for only 1 per cent of total passenger vehicle sales — haven’t been spared. Mercedes sales in India saw a year-on-year drop of 18.6 per cent to 6,561 units in the first six months of 2019. “We are introducing some industry-first mobility solutions with the aim of bringing back the much-needed customer confidence, by offering them financial flexibility related to their car purchase,” said Martin Schwenk, managing director, Mercedes-Benz India. Read Complete Article