MERCEDES-BENZ Australia/Pacific has confirmed it is working on a platform to allow prospective buyers to purchase its vehicles online, bringing it alongside the company’s global plans to have 25 per cent of its sales made online by 2025.

Mercedes-Benz Aust/Pac head of media relations and brand engagement Jerry Stamoulis said it was regarded within the company as a program of paramount importance in Australia.

“It is something that we need to be on top of and ready for,” Mr Stamoulis told GoAutoNews Premium.

“There undoubtedly will be some of our customers who want to purchase their vehicle online.

“We are now working on how the customer relates to the dealer or the head office with the online process.”

He said that Mercedes’ parent company Daimler AG was working on a model out of Germany, but that in Australia “we will make our own”.

“We will make our own online model to suit Australia and won’t take something already formulated from Germany,” he said.

“We concentrate on what we need locally and you can’t compare what could happen in Australia versus China, Europe and the US.

“These are very different customers. So for Australia, we would tailor something for our customers in our market and work with our dealers and work from our experience.

“There is no off-the-shelf plan. We have the runs on the board and we know our market very well. We have a close relationship with our dealers so why wouldn’t we tap into those resources and deliver the best possible product?”

Mr Stamoulis said there was “still a long way to go” but that Mercedes-Benz Aust/Pac was working on all the options.

“It’s not actually new to us,” he said. “We have already done it in the past with Smart so it’s not new and we’re certainly not shy of working with the concept.”

Smart’s Fortwo gave customers the option to buy online from March 2013, partly in response to flagging demand for the city car.

But even the novelty of the car – and its online purchase program – was not received well. Smart withdrew from the Australian market in mid-2015 and, in that final year, sold only 22 units.

Daimler outlined in July this year in Amsterdam at its ‘Future of Retail’ conference that it was aiming for 25 per cent of its global sales to be done online by 2025.

It also said that it would introduce a new range of digital products offering customers everything from mobile phone-based parking and refuelling and charging locations, car wash and laundry facilities, and 48-hour vehicle testing for prospective owners.

It said the focus would be on products that would capture and retain a wider group of potential owners and provide leads for its franchised dealers.

Read more: Mercedes plans online sales push

By Neil Dowling