KOLKATA: Daimlerchrysler India, which owns the world’s most sought after auto brand, Merc, will soon have a separate identity for its pre-owned car business, supported by an exclusive retail network of such cars.
The company will also extend its attractive finance scheme called ‘Star Choice’ for used car sales to push up the latter’s topline.
And that’s not all. The company may even offer some warranty against a refurbished pre-owned Merc, for the first time. Speaking to ET here on Friday, Sanjiv Sahajwala, director (sales and marketing) and member of the board of management, said, “Presently, our pre-owned car sales constitute 18% of the company’s total new car sales.
Going by the potential to grow, we would ideally like this to be around 25% of our new car sales. And we will do whatever is to be done to reach that level.”
Last year, the company sold 1,580 cars in the country with a total turnover of Rs 430 crore. The sales projection for the current calendar stands at 1,800 cars with a turnover of Rs 500 crore. Mr Sahajwala was here to flag off Mercedes Benz C 200 Kompressor (petrol) and C 220 CDI (diesel), priced at Rs 24.8 lakh and Rs 27.1 lakh, respectively. He said that the company brass was working on a suitable identification (brand name) for its pre-owned car business
“We are also talking to our partners (DaimlerChrysler dealers are called partners) and getting market feedback to make it an economically-viable model. We are driven by the mission to let each Merc owner drive a new car every three years and that should make a profitable business proposition for our partners,” he said.
Mr Sahajwala said that Merc, the most recognisable symbol of luxury and pride, has all along believed in establishing a long-standing relationship with the customers.
This would be possible by laying more thrust on the pre-owned car business. “This will certainly have a rub-off effect in terms of bringing in new members to the Merc family,” he said.
DaimlerChrysler, presently has 15 ‘partners’ across the country. And once the new set-up for its pre-owned car business comes into being, it is likely to have an equal number of outlets in the country. |
