Mercedes enters pre-owned car business in India

Luxury car-maker Mercedes Benz India today announced its foray into the pre-owned car business in the country, which will bring down the cost of owning a vehicle from its stable to as low as Rs 15 lakh.

The company is also gearing up to enter the car finance business as it looks to push sales in India amid increasing competition from rival BMW.

Mercedes Benz started its pre-owned cars programme -- Proven Exclusivity -- in 2009 globally and is operating across 35 countries.

"Now we are bringing this to India to make the dream of many customers to own a Mercedes Benz even more achievable," Mercedes Benz India Managing Director and CEO Wilfried Aulbur told reporters here.

He said through the pre-owned programme, customers can own a Mercedes Benz for as low Rs 15-18 lakh as against Rs 26-28 lakh for a brand new, entry-level C Class model.

The company's other models such as E Class, M Class and S Class are priced between Rs 40 lakh and Rs 96 lakh for brand new vehicles.

Aulbur said under the company's pre-owned scheme, only cars not older than six years will be available.

The company is making the facility available in six dealer outlets across four cities -- Delhi, Mumbai, Ahmedabad and Chandigarh -- initially.

The company said by the end of the year, another 6-8 additional outlets will be added, where pre-owned cars will be available.

Aulbur said the company expects the pre-owned car business to account for 10-15 per cent of its car sales by 2011. He, however, declined to comment on how many new cars it expects to sell in the next year.

This year, in the January-May period, the company sold 2,014 units, up 59 per cent from the year-ago period.

Commenting on the company's plans to foray into car finance, Aulbur said Mercedes Benz is keen to have a presence in this area, as "70 per cent of car sales in India are financed".

"This is an area, which is very important for our business, but I can't share the details right now," he said.

Mercedes Benz is up against tough competition from German rival BMW in the Indian luxury car market.

Last year, BMW became the top luxury car-maker in India, selling 3,619 units against 3,247 Mercedes Benz cars.