Dubai: A prospective buyer’s access to funds to acquire the next must-have Jaguar or Land Rover model has become smoother with the roll-out of new financing programmes at the brands’ dealerships in the Gulf.
“The plan is to have branded finance offers and services available in all our retailer showrooms ... We are already able to do this in Kuwait, in Qatar, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia,” said Bruce Robertson, regional Managing Director at Jaguar Land Rover. “Over the coming months, we expect to have similar programmes in other markets until we reach our objective of it being available wherever a customer buys one of our products in the MENA region.”
The JLR move is in keeping with similar ones initiated by some of the prestige brands or their dealerships in key markets. Bentley’s UAE dealership Al Habtoor Motors launched one recently after an extensive pilot programme, while Abu Dhabi Motors, the BMW and Rolls’ partner in Abu Dhabi, has had one for some time. Sales of prestige automotive brands have had an exceptional few years in the region, and manufacturers and dealerships believe that easier financing and fixed-term contractual agreements could induce more to sign up for a luxury ride.
“Our intention is to develop new finance products with our partners that will open up the Jaguar and Land Rover brands to customers who previously hadn’t considered our vehicles for various reasons,” said Robertson, who added that JLR on its own will not have a direct stake in the programme.
“We have carefully selected partner banks to provide the funding and worked with them to brand their services and offers accordingly to make them look and feel part of the Jaguar and Land Rover brand experience,” Robertson said.
“At all times, however, we will be working with partner banks that are bound by central bank regulations when it comes to the amount of finance they can offer to any customer and the length of the loan. The amount varies from market to market ... but we would like to offer our customers the chance to change their cars more frequently where it makes sense to do so.”
He added there were no plans to have joint ventures with dealerships “at this present moment” on the initiative.
Since the offers went live, Kuwait and Qatar have seen sizeable take-up rates. Going forward, the manufacturer expects the “larger markets, by sheer size and demand, to dominate going forward”.