Mercedes-Benz India targets smaller cities; Increasing localization

Mercedes-Benz India seems to be aggressive with its strategies for the Indian market, as the company has launched three successive products in short time span. The German luxury carmaker has launched a new GL-Class SUV, A-Class premium hatchback, and the new E-Class saloon. Not just the introduction of new products, the firm also plans to increase the localization of its products, to take on its rivals Audi and BMW.

Mercedes-Benz India is all set to start local assembling of its latest SUV, the GL-Class at its Pune manufacturing unit from August. It will be the company's fifth product to be locally manufactured, with more new vehicles to join in the near future as well. The firm is also aiming to improve its footprints in smaller cities and town to grab additional sales.

Speaking to ET, Mercedes-Benz India MD & CEO Eberhand Kern said,"We have aggressive plans for the Indian market in 2013 which is also our year of offensive. We have the strategy to push our volume models in the Indian market and have seen some instant success with our compact luxury models like the A Class and B Class".

Mercedes-Benz India invested Rs. 850 crore, which has doubled its production capacity to 20,000 units at its Pune plant. This will help the company to take on its two global rivals BMW and Audi. Currently, the A-Class and B-Class are imported from Germany, while the local assembly of these products will begin from next year. On June 25, it launched the new E-Class saloon to take on BMW 5-Series and Audi A6, at a price of Rs. 41.51 lakh.

The E-Class has been the top-selling luxury sedan in India with over 23,000 units sold since its introduction. It will also locally assembled at the Pune facility, where the other sedans like C-Class and the S-Class along with the ML-Class also developed. Mercedes-Benz is aiming to make the Indian car market among its top ten global markets in the next few years. The company is focusing more on smaller cities to keep the sales up. It has now opened new dealerships at Dhanbad, Jalandhar, Karnal, Calicat, Tisawadi, Porvorim and Vadodra among other places to generate volumes.

Source : ET