Time flies with great content! Renew in to keep enjoying all our premium content.
Prime
Inchcape, NCBA deal to drive luxury vehicle sales
NCBA Group Director, Asset Finance and Business Solutions Lennox Mugambi (left) and Inchcape Kenya Managing Director, Julia Vershinskaya pose for a photo next to Changan Hunter vehicle on June 4, 2024. Â
Inchcape Kenya, a luxurious automobile dealer, has signed a pact with NCBA Group that will see the lender fund customers to purchase cars with loans that have a 20.6 percent interest rate.
The deal runs up to the end of March next year with the bank funding customers by up to 90 percent of the value of a new car and up to 80 percent for a used unit.
Inchcape deals in luxurious brands such as BMW and Range Rover, highlighting the high-end models that buyers will easily purchase through the deal with NCBA Group.
Sales of new motor vehicles dipped last year amid increased financial constraints that saw dealers report declining orders. “We are delighted to partner with NCBA to offer our customers exclusive financing options that make owning a premium vehicle more attainable,’’ said Julia Vershinskaya, MD Inchcape Kenya.
NCBA said all the vehicles financed under the scheme will be insured through NCBA Bancassurance Intermediary Limited.
NCBA Group’s deal with Inchcape will also help the lender drive customer numbers and its loan book.
The fall in demand for luxury cars comes amid worsening economic conditions featuring rising interest rates and a weakening of the shilling which have also inflated the prices of high-end vehicles. Automotive companies have reported a mix of losses and reduced profits, partly due to a cost surge and subdued consumer demand.
Sales of new motor vehicles dipped by 14.84 percent last year to 11,370 units down from 13,352 units a year earlier, weighed down by the significant weakening of the shilling which made imports costlier.
However, full-year data on sales of new luxury motor vehicles is not yet public but sales shrunk by 38.1 percent which in the first half of last year was weighed down by low orders for BMW, Land Rover, and Mercedes models.
The deal marks yet another move by Inchcape to drive sales in a near-stagnant market, just months after it entered the mass market.
Inchcape signed a deal with Changan Automotive Limited, a Chinese franchise to sell Sports Utility Vehicles (SUVs), minivans, sedans, and double cabin pick-ups from the Asian economy.
Mass market automobiles continue to be the leader in Kenya, given their low prices and ease of accessing spare parts compared to the high-end units.
