Mercedes-Benz India continues to lead the luxury car market, sells 6561 units in January to June 2019

Mercedes-Benz India continues to lead the luxury car market, sells 6561 units in January to June 2019
 6561 units sold in Jan-June 2019 period (Jan-June 2018: 8061 units)
 Mercedes-Benz India continues to face strong macro-economic headwinds
 Hopes recovery in sales from Q3 2019 onwards
 The demand for the Long Wheelbase E-Class continues along with the CClass, GLC and GLE
 AMG and Dream Cars grew impressively at 47% in H1 2019
 The Long Wheelbase E-Class continues its popularity and remains the
highest selling model in H1 2019

The country’s largest luxury carmaker Mercedes-Benz India announced, it sold 6561 units in the first six months of 2019. The company clocked satisfactory sales performance under continuing strong macro-economic challenges that comprises rising interest rates, inflationary hikes, liquidity crunch, rising import costs, all leading to muted customer interest. Despite these factors and challenges, Mercedes-Benz India continues to lead the luxury car market in India, having a comparative higher base.
Martin Schwenk, Managing Director & CEO, Mercedes-Benz India commented: “We are glad to maintain the leadership position in the luxury car market by sustaining our sales performance despite facing continuous macro-economic headwinds and a temporary limited availability of volume models. We expect sales to recover gradually from the third quarter, however conditions would continue to remain challenging.”

“We are excited to retain our customers’ loyalty and sustain the market leadership by continuing our customer centric initiatives. As a fundamentally strong brand, MercedesBenz continue to remain bullish on the mid to long term prospect of the dynamic Indian market” added Mr. Schwenk. The volume drivers for Mercedes-Benz India in the January-June 2019 period remained the Long Wheelbase E-Class as it continues its success run with the Indian customers. The new C-Class and the GLC SUV also contributed to the sales volume. The AMG and the Dream Cars segment however grew the highest by 47% and outperformed the other segments in H1 2019. (All figures of Mercedes-Benz India are that of retail sales.)

Established in 1994, Mercedes-Benz India which celebrates its 25th anniversary in India, pioneered the luxury car market in the country and boasts of more than 130 years of cutting edge innovation in the luxury automobile industry globally. Set up in 2009, Mercedes-Benz
India’s world-class production facility is spread over 100 acres in Chakan near Pune. Since June 2015, Mercedes-Benz India also commenced production from its new expanded production facility located in the same premises. Mercedes-Benz India is part of  MercedesBenz’s Global Production Network. It plays an important role in the CKD/MVP production network in Brazil, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam.
Benz produces vehicles in various extension levels for domestic markets. The production facility now carries an investment of INR 2,200 crores and has the largest installed production capacity for any luxury carmaker in India. Mercedes-Benz India also has the largest network spread amongst any luxury carmaker, with presence in 47 Indian cities through 94 outlets. Through the exclusive AMG Performance Centers located in 6 cities including Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Kochi, and Pune; the AMG performance sub-brand of Mercedes-Benz also boasts of a strong retail network presence in the country.

Mercedes-Benz India’s flagship programme, ‘My Mercedes, My Service’ launched in 2016, aims to completely redefine the after-sales experience by digitalizing service process and create unparalleled benchmark in the luxury car service domain. In December 2017, Mercedes-Benz India launched its innovative ‘Pit Stop Service’ across all AMG Performance Centre to create service differentiation. This speedy, personalized and priority service is a commitment to the AMG and Specialty Cars customers, in driving delightful vehicle ownership. ‘My Mercedes, My Service’ aims at enhancing the customer’s vehicle ownership experience manifold, making after-sales experience as the new differentiator in the luxury car segment. With the use of big data and in-depth knowledge of the driving pattern of Indian customers, Mercedes-Benz has been able to drive successfully low cost of ownership for its customers. A testimony of all these
initiatives is reflected in 2018 JD Power Sales Satisfaction Index (SSI) and Customer Satisfaction Index (CSI), which ranks Mercedes-Benz India at the top, with a score of 903.