Lady luck seems to be smiling on the Indian auto market with German luxury carmaker, Mercedes Benz getting ready to introduce a wide range of compact cars in the country by 2012.
In a recent statement, Mercedes Benz India MD and CEO Peter Honegg said, “Initially, cars with Left Hand Drive option, manufactured at our facilities in Germany and Hungary, will be introduced in Europe later this year. We plan to bring them to India by 2012-13 as Completely Knocked Down (CKD) units." He, however, kept mum over the expected price of these cars.
Currently, the company produces C, S and E class from its Chakan facility near Pune. Last year, Mercedes Benz managed to sell 5,800 units of its cars in the country. In the current year, the company is confident to take this figure to 7,000 units. Apart from the cars, Mercedes are also planning to boost their bus sale numbers, which was at 70 units last year, to 130-140 buses this year.
Mercedes Benz is currently the second largest luxury car brand in the Indian market following its domestic rival BMW at the top spot.
