Benz starts selling online

Mercedes-Benz buyers in Germany and Poland will be able to virtually stitch up a new car deal from home, before the end of the year.

For some, the days of slogging backwards and forwards between car dealers will, more or less, be over. Although some face-to-face contact will eventually need to be made, the business of choosing a car and financing it will, if the customer so chooses, all be done online.

With the new Mercedes-Benz Connection Online facility being set up by the company, buyers will be able to choose a time and place for a test drive and will only need to front up to a dealer at the final stages of the transaction.

According to an article in Automotive News Europe, customers will then be given the choice of how to collect the car: Either direct from a dealer, or have it delivered personally to locations throughout Germany and Poland.

The company says that the models available online will be preconfigured, but will be available with commonly ordered features.

Of course, the company expects that traditional dealerships will remain the preferred option of many car buyers. It is expected the online selling will appeal to younger buyers Benz is keen to attract.

Mercedes-Benz evidently decided to launch online purchasing as a result of the increasing space limitations being experienced in cities. Car showrooms, and their attendant need for customer parking and other services, are particularly space-greedy and not best suited to congested city environments.

The company has just announced that online sales will initially kick off for customers in the cities of Hamburg and Warsaw, with others to follow suit.

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