India’s largest luxury car brand Mercedes-Benz continued its leadership position in the Indian luxury car segment for the fifth year in a row, by achieving sales growth in Q4 2019, setting the momentum for 2020. The company recorded its highest ever Q4 selling 3871 units, thus registering a 3.3% y-o-y growth for Q4, and was able to achieve sales growth in a challenging market. Amidst strong macro-economic headwinds, Mercedes-Benz India sales volumes in Q4 also grew by 15.41% from Q3 2019 and the overall sales volume remained at 13,786 units from January-December 2019. Mercedes-Benz firmly maintained its strong lead on the dynamic Indian luxury car market in 2019 and charted a sales uptick in Q4 with the introduction of a host of industry best sales, customer service and finance programmes.
The brand with the Three Pointed Star commenced its product offensive from October 2019 and launched three new products (New G 350d, New V-Class Elite and New GLC) in Q4 2019. Mercedes-Benz also had a strong festive period, which turned market sentiments towards positive.
Speaking on the company’s sales performance, Martin Schwenk, Managing Director & CEO, Mercedes-Benz India said,
“We are satisfied with our sales performance in 2019 despite facing strong macro-economic headwinds, specifically in the first three quarters. We were however able to positively influence the customer sentiment with our industry-best customer solutions and achieved the new best ever Q4. 2019 was a significant year as we not only introduced a host of new products but also created new industry benchmark with introduction of finance programmes like ‘WISHBOX’, launching new infotainment technology-MBUX (Mercedes-Benz User Experience), introducing ‘Mercedes me connect’ (connected car services) and also some innovative service initiatives like ‘Premiere Express Prime’. Together, all these initiatives created a solid momentum and reiterated the customers’ confidence in a fundamentally strong brand like Mercedes-Benz, which
continued to be the most preferred brand for a luxury car customer in India. We were able to create a strong growth momentum in the market during the festive period and we are glad to carry it for the rest of the year. Our growth in our Q4 sales is a testament of this fact.”
“2020 is going to be another important year for Mercedes-Benz India and we continue to be optimistic with the country’s mid to long-term prospect. We had an overwhelming response to our entire BS IV portfolio and we are now ready with the all-new BS VI portfolio, way ahead of the deadline. This year the market will witness a strong product offensive from Mercedes-Benz beginning with the New GLE, and followed by some of the most significant product introductions from our global portfolio for the Indian market, including those without any predecessors. These products will redefine luxury and performance motoring and chart new avenues for sustainable mobility in India. In 2020, Mercedes-Benz will also witness strategic network expansion in key existing as well as new markets.” Martin Schwenk elaborated.
AMG and Dream Cars outperform growing at 54% y-o-y:
AMG continues to remain the most dominating performance brand in India and together with the Dream Cars; these segments combined grew by a robust 54% in Jan-Dec 2019 period compared to the same period in 2018. This is a significant growth indicator and underlines the strength of the AMGs and Dream Cars in a market, which has remained challenging for most part of the year.
Sales success of the new Long Wheelbase E-Class Sedan continues:
A young and comprehensive product portfolio comprising the New Generation Cars, the sedans, the SUVs and the AMG cars, buoyed Mercedes-Benz India’s sales performance in 2019. The Long Wheelbase E-Class sedan continued its sales success across markets and continued to remain the single highest selling model for the brand in January-December 2019 period. Similarly, the C-Class sedan and the CLA continue to remain on top of Mercedes-Benz customer preference.
The SUVs comprising the GLA, GLC, GLE and the GLS maintained their momentum as the strongest selling segment, with the GLC remaining as the most popular SUV. The New GLC leads the SUV portfolio for Mercedes-Benz. The SUV, which was launched with MBUX in December 2019, has been receiving very positive customer response.
(All figures of Mercedes-Benz India are that of retail sales.)
About Mercedes-Benz India
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 Mercedes- Benz’s Global Production Network. It plays an important role in the CKD/MVP production network in Brazil, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam. At these locations, Mercedes-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 95 outlets. Through the exclusive AMG Performance Centers located in 6 cities including New 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.
Mercedes-Benz India product portfolio comprises the locally produced Mercedes Maybach S 560, S-Class, E- Class Long Wheelbase, C-Class, CLA luxury sedans and the GLA, GLE and the GLS luxury SUVs. The CKD GLC was the ninth product added to Mercedes-Benz’s local production portfolio. Completely Built imported cars portfolio includes the A-Class, B-Class, V-Class, CLS, E-Class Cabriolet, E-Class All-Terrain, S-Class Coupé, C- Class Cabriolet, S-Class Cabriolet, the S 600 Guard and the recently launched premium SUV G350d plus a range of other Guard vehicles.
The product portfolio also comprises the iconic off-roader Mercedes-AMG G 63 as well as a wide range of other Mercedes-AMG performance cars like the AMG CLA 45, AMG C 63 S, AMG E 63 S, AMG S 63 Coupé, AMG S 63 Sedan, AMG GLA 45, AMG GLC 43 Coupé, AMG GLE 43 Coupé, AMG GT S, AMG GT R and AMG GT Roadster sports car, AMG SLC 43 and AMG C 43.
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