Mercedes to launch 5 compact cars in India

Mercedes-Benz has decided to join the bandwagon of world’s famous carmakers wooing Indian car market. The newfound interest of German carmakers is credited to the phenomenal growth of Indian car market. Mercedes-Benz has revealed its plan to launch three to five compact premium cars in India by 2015. Not only this, the company is speculated to bring all of its 10 new cars across the globe to India. The firm plans to open two assembly lines for Mercedes Benz A class and Mercedes Benz B class cars and ML and GL SUVs along with a new paint unit at its Chakan facility, near Pune, till 2014. For this, the company will invest a whopping Rs 350 crore in its Chakan plant. There’s definitely a race for the top manufacturer of premium cars in India. Dieter Zetsche, chairman of the board of management of Daimler and head of Mercedes-Benz Cars reported in a magazine that the company sees lot of potential for growth in Indian car market with a high demand for Mercedes Benz A and B-class cars.

Zetsche also disclosed that Mercedes Benz plans to ramp up production and expand its dealership network in India. He refrained from mentioning budgeted amount as the growth and investment plan is yet to be submitted to the board of management by Mercedes-Benz India's chairman and VP sales at the headquarters, Matthias Luhrs. Luhrs confirmed the rumors saying that over the next five years, Mercedes Benz has lined up 10 new launches globally and it aims to reach out to the Indian market as fast as possible. Mercedes Benz is set to compete with its main rival in Indian premium car segment, BMW, with new lined up SUV's ML, GL and GLC-Class cars. Adding that with the entry of a more compact model, Mercedes Benz expects more than double its sales in India to over 15,000 units in the next couple of years. Apart from new cars, localization is another priority for carmakers in India. Experts say that low cost base and rising demand for compact models in markets like India and China makes it a logical choice for major carmakers to utilize the depth of manufacturing locally.