Mercedes plans a finance arm for India
The German luxury carmaker, Mercedes Benz India has recently announced that the company is planning to launch its own finance arm in the Indian market with which it will be able to fulfil the demand of the Indian consumer more easily. The MD of the Indian arm, Wilfried Aulbur recently announced the same at the launch of the second car arm in the Indian market.
Notably, BMW also said last year that it will opening a retail financing arm by April this year but the company will take another two to three months to do so.
While Aulbur refused to give any timeframe for the launch of the finance arm but said that it will be a national launch in the Indian market unlike the case with BMW which will start with mainly the metros.
Moreover, Mercedes will also be supporting its used car arm with the financing business. The company is currently in agreement with ICICI Bank, Kotak and HDFC for the retail financing of second hand cars in the Indian market. The company expects close to 10-15% of total sales coming from used cars by 2011.