Buoyed by the sales of the popular E-Class Models, Mercedes-Benz India managed to register a growth of 5.3 per cent between the months of January and March this year, which indicates a positive start for the German auto major. As compared to 1908 units in the previous year, 2009 vehicles were sold in 2013. Interestingly, more than 800 units of the E-Class have contributed to this spurt in growth, which again is an increase of 25 per cent from the same period in 2012. Mercedes-Benz Dream Cars, which include Completely Built Units such as AMG vehicles, SLK -Class and CLS-Class) have grown by a whopping 48 per cent from January to March 2012. Considering the drop in demand for passenger vehicles experienced by different manufacturers in the country, such figures definitely present a happy picture for Mercedes-Benz India.
Expressing his opinion on the growth, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer for Mercedes-Benz India, Eberhard Kern, said, “We are very satisfied with the company performance in this quarter. Given the overall strain in the Indian economy and the fact that the Passenger Vehicles market has de-grown by double digits in Jan-Feb 2013, an incremental 5.3 per cent performance enhancement is encouraging. There are several exciting product launches slated in the next months and riding the wave of these fascinating products, we envisage a double-digit growth in the next quarter.”
Currently, Mercedes-Benz vehicles for India are being manufactured at the Chakan facility near Pune. Though the plant has an annual capacity of 20,000 units, this can also be increased up to 40,000 units as per demand. While C, E, S and ML classes of vehicles are made in this plant, AMG, SLK and CLS class vehicles are imported as Completely Built Units (CBUs) for the domestic buyers.
Mercedes-Benz India has been present in the country for more than a decade now. In fact, the company knows the Indian customer better than any other luxury car maker. However, sales figures present a different story as BMW India has been on top for a number of years. One hopes that this German auto maker is able to script a comeback this year.
