India’s largest luxury car seller Mercedes India on Wednesday (November 09) said despite of numerous market challenges they will remain market leader in the luxury car segment for the current financial year.
Ronald Folger, MD and CEO, Mercedes India said, “first it was the diesel ban, then additional cess in the Union Bill and now GST, the luxury car segment is facing too many challenges to grow.”
Due to many hurdles, sales of luxury cars have remained flat in the present year. Since last December through this August, none of the auto companies could sell most of their models in Delhi NCR, which is the country's largest auto market, following the Supreme Court ban on above 2-litre diesel models.
Since the Delhi-NCR market gives around 30 per cent of volume to Mercedes, this forced the company to introduce petrol variants of all its models.
The ban had Mercedes' sales declining by 1.5 per cent to 9,924 units from 10,079 units in the first nine months of this year, while for the September quarter its sales declined 2.7 per cent primarily due to higher base effect and the apex court's ban.
However, the company is working to boost sales by launching new models and open expand dealership network.
He added that the present year has been ‘the year of winning’ for Mercedes India with 11 launches and introducing petrol variant to its line-up.
The German auto giant also launched the Mercedes S 500 cabriolet and the Mercedes-Benz C 300 Cabriolet in India. While the S 500 Cabriolet is priced at INR 2.25 crore, the Mercedes Benz C 300 Cabriolet is priced Rs 60 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi).
Mercedes now has 4 convertibles in its portfolio, the highest among luxury carmakers in India.
BW Reporters
The author is Senior Correspondent with BW Businessworld
