Mercedes eyes corporates

Annual interest income at Mercedes-Benz Leasing is stable at Bt1 billion, with which Daimler Group is satisfied given the competition the company faces in Thailand.
Besides offering low interest rates, leasing companies use pricing to attract customers. Mercedes-Benz Leasing provides three financing programmes. The first is hire-purchase for customers who want fixed rates; the rate now is 2.12 per cent per annum. The second is Star Choice for customers who need flexibility of instalment payments; this rate is 4.4 per cent per annum. The third programme is SmartDrive, a leasing scheme for corporate customers who want to qualify for tax benefits. The income from this scheme is the monthly lease charge and an advance payment of 30 per cent of the car’s value.
At present, Mercedes-Benz Leasing provides loans for a third of Mercedes sales in Thailand. The rest are via loans from five hire-purchase companies or cash sales.
Supavut said SmartDrive was in effect a long-term car-rental service. Such schemes are popular in North America and Europe as customers can save on maintenance, vehicle-licence renewal and auto insurance because the leasing company oversees these costs.
Juristic persons are a target group of SmartDrive more than private individuals because they can receive tax exemptions of up to Bt36,000 per month.
Moreover, SmartDrive is part of a plan to increase the number of used cars in the market.