Rover in home loans initiative

Rover Cars is launching a joint promotional initiative with a mortgage company to boost both house and car sales.

In the long term, the scheme could open the way to car companies offering branded mortgage packages as their finance divisions become more influential.

Details of the Rover scheme with the Chase DeVere Mortgage Management company will be finalised this week, but will be similar to a scheme launched by Renault earlier this week.

The Renault initiative with The Royal Bank of Scotland subsidiary The Mortgage Business offers people who take out a mortgage above 45,000 a free Renault Clio for 12 months. After that they can return the car or buy it outright.

The impetus for the schemes has come from the mortgage companies working in an increasingly competitive market. But it represents another departure for the car makers, which are constantly seeking fresh ways to sell.

“To begin with, it will be a limited offer but it could be developed, depending on its success,” says one source.