Daimler begins financial services operations in Romania

Mumbai: Berlin-based Daimler Financial Services AG launched business operations in Romania, in a bid to expand its wings in the growing financial services maeket in Central and Eastern Europe. The company will operate under the  the brand name Mercedes-Benz Financial Services from 18 September 2008, said Daimler.

The new company will offer loans, leasing contracts, and insurance solutions. This product portfolio serves private and corporate customers of new and pre-owned passenger cars and commercial vehicles. Mercedes-Benz dealers in Romania can now provide customers with a broad range of financial services from a single source.

Romania is the third-largest automotive market in Central and Eastern Europe, after Russia and Ukraine. Passenger car sales in the country rose 20 per cent in 2007 to more than 321,000 units, and commercial vehicle sales were up 25 per cent to almost 50,000 units last year with. Daimler-brand vehicles reflecting even stronger sales.

Mercedes-Benz sold about 2,400 passenger cars in 2007 in Romania, which is 42 per cent more than in the previous year, while sales of Mercedes-Benz commercial vehicles increased by 80 per cent to 4,500 units, during the same period.

Mercedes-Benz Financial Services will support its dealership partners by offering them an electronic point-of-sale system. It will enable all of the processes linking dealerships and Mercedes-Benz Financial Services Romania - from loan applications to credit approvals, which will run via electron medium. This will result in faster credit decisions and higher customer satisfaction. In addition, Mercedes-Benz Financial Services offers financing and insurance products to the dealerships themselves.

Daimler Financial Services has Central and Eastern European subsidiaries in Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, Croatia, and Russia. With its new financial services offerings in Romania, Daimler Financial Services AG is further expanding its global presence. The Daimler Group's international provider of financial services employs about 7,200 people and is represented in more than 40 countries. The company currently finances or leases one out of every three vehicles produced by Daimler worldwide, and manages a contract volume of more than €60 billion.

''Daimler Financial Services continues to expand in Central and Eastern Europe,'' said Daimler Financial Services CEO Jürgen Walker at a press conference held in Bucharest. ''We're already one of the leading captive financial services providers in Central and Eastern Europe today - and our business operations in Romania will improve our position here even further.''