More women are now buying Mercedes-Benz cars than before, says India MD and CEO Santosh Iyer

An increasing number of women are buying Mercedes-Benz cars now, Santosh Iyer, MD and CEO of Mercedes-Benz India, said at Moneycontrol and CNBC-TV18’s AI Alliance event in Pune.

“Earlier, women buyers used to be about 6-7 percent of our total base and now that is already at 15 percent,” Iyer said.

Not only are women buying more luxury cars, but younger people are also indulging themselves. In India, for Mercedes-Benz, the average age of buyers has dropped to 38 years from 44 previously. Youngsters no longer want to buy houses or invest their money; instead, they want to enjoy luxury, which is driving demand, Iyer said.

Broadly put, the penetration of luxury cars is around 1 percent in India, but it differs across cities and regions. The penetration in Mumbai and Delhi, for instance, is around 2.5 percent. In Tier 2-3 regions the penetration is a mere 0.4 percent, as per Iyer.

“There’s desire but it’s not a necessity in Tier 2 and 3 towns,” he said. “People think if their dads aren’t driving a Mercedes, they shouldn’t. That is changing however,” Iyer added.

Tapping into the growing demand, the German carmaker will launch 12 cars this year and will also add three more electric cars to its portfolio, bringing the total to six EVs from Mercedes’ garage.

The company is also partnering with tech titans like NVIDIA, Google and others to personalise its cars with software. Mercedes is more than just a car that is used to travel from point A to point B, Iyer said.

Waiting period

The company is using predictive tools to better manage the flow from suppliers to the end consumer and estimate the waiting time.

“Today, there are cars which even have a 2-year waiting period. Like the G Wagon. This car costs Rs 4 crore, we announced bookings and within seven minutes we sold off these cars,” Iyer said while underscoring the demand potential.

Last year was one of the best ones for Mercedes-Benz in India. “Last year we sold 18,000 cars. Our top line was more than Rs 10,000 crore in the previous financial year and (its) growing significantly. We have around 2,000 people working in Pune….we have people working in the R&D setup and in the IT setup. Every Mercedes around the world has some bit of India in it,” Iyer concluded.