Mercedes-Benz India has started 2023 with the launch of the Mercedes-AMG E 53 4MATIC+ Cabriolet, the first Cabriolet in an AMG Avatar in India with a price tag of Rs 1.30 crore (all India ex-showroom).
With the highest growth in the top end of the luxury car segment in India, Mercedes-Benz India said on Friday it would be launching 10 new cars in 2023 with most of the launches in the top end of the luxury car market.
The roadmap for 2023 was to expand the customer base for the top end of the luxury brand, Santosh Iyer, managing director and CEO of Mercedes-Benz India said. One of the key highlights of the company’s sales success was the strong growth in the top-end vehicle segment, he added. The top-end luxury segment comprising Maybach, AMG, S-Class and EQS grew by 69% in 2022, Iyer said.
Pre-Covid in 2018, the top-end luxury segment share was at 12% which has gone up to 22% in 2022. The core luxury segment with E-Class, GLC, C-Class and EQB share was down from 65% to 62% while the share of the A-Class and GLA cars was down to 16% in 2022 from 23% in 2018.
According to Iyer, the first Indian to take over a leadership role at the German luxury car maker’s Indian operations since their entry into India, said the profile of the buyers of the Mercedes cars in India had changed with the average age of S-Class buyers coming down to 38 which average age of C-Class customers was 35. More women across the country were preferring to buy Mercedes cars and a new set of salaried employees and professionals emerging as buyers for the car, Iyer said. “We have upped the game with many money-can’t-buy experiences,” Iyer said.
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Mercedes-Benz India reported its highest-ever sales in a calendar year in India and retained the top spot in the country’s luxury car segment for the eighth consecutive year. The company sold 15,822 cars in 2022, registering a 41% year-on-year sales growth over CY 2021 sales of 11,242 units giving the company a 50.60% share of the luxury car market in India. This number would have been much higher had there not been supply chain challenges, Iyer said. Many of the Mercedes customers had been waiting for 9-12 months for the delivery of the cars and the company was hoping to bring this down to two to three months. Mercedes was operating in two to three shifts in some function to maximize production.
The company on January 2 rolled out its 150,000th Made in India Mercedes car from the Chakan plant in Pune. It also reported the highest-ever production in a year from the plant with ICE and EV rolling out from the same line.
Mercedes-Benz India has started 2023 with the launch of the Mercedes-AMG E 53 4MATIC+ Cabriolet, the first Cabriolet in an AMG Avatar in India with a price tag of Rs 1.30 crore (all India ex-showroom). The new generation GLC debuts in the third quarter of this year.
