MERCEDES-BENZ will turn away from the leasing broker channel by the time it goes agency model next year.
The move was confirmed by Tom Brennan, head of fleet sales, at the recent AFP annual conference.
Informing the packed audience of fleet managers, Tom explained the brand’s pivot away from premium volume to luxury and sustainability with a focus on scarcity.
Our ambition has changed – it’s no longer volume. We are not working on all the leasing sub channels. That change will become clear in 2023 when we move to an agency model.
Explaining that the move had begun in 2020, Tom said “it’s about a volume shift”.
He said that there would be product simplification and fewer trims – “important for online ordering” – and finally there would be price transparency:
There will be the one fleet price for the corporate, retail and SME sector. That’s the expectation of a luxury brand.
At an investor conference on the Cote d’Azure, France (19 May) held by Mercedes-Benz CEO Ola Källenius, the company said that in the future, Mercedes-Benz would concentrate on three product categories:
- Top-End Luxury,
- Core Luxury
- and Entry Luxury.
It would jettison entry level models as part of this strategy.
Ola added:
What has always been the core of our brand is now also the core of our strategy: the luxury segment. We are further sharpening the focus of our business model and product portfolio in order to maximise the potential of Mercedes-Benz even in challenging conditions. At the heart of that is our goal to build the world’s most desirable cars.
Ralph Morton is the leading journalist in the leasing broker sector and editor of Broker News, the website which provides information and news for BVRLA-registered leasing brokers. He also writes extensively on the fleet and leasing market in both the UK and Europe.
