In a bid to regain its lost market share in the Indian market, the country’s leading luxury vehicle maker Mercedes Benz India is planning to assemble a range of its existing and future portfolio models in the Indian market.
The company had recently indicated that it mulls to assemble as many as 9 of its portfolio models like GL Class, A Class and B Class in the country, over the period of coming few years. By assembling these cars locally, the company will be enabled to compete more promptly with the rivals like BMW and Audi, by pricing its vehicles more competitively.
In a recent statement, Mr. Peter Honegg, MD & CEO at Mercedes Benz India, said, "We are going to change the rules of the game in the next three years with our CKD lines." He was speaking at the launching ceremony of the new Mercedes Benz ML class in the Indian market on Tuesday.
At present, there is a huge difference between the import duty on assembled cars and imported cars. While the import duty on cars assembled in India is mere 30 percent, it is 110 percent on the cars imported as CBUs (completely Built Units).
