Vehicles above Rs 1 crore constitute 30 percent of Mercedes-Benz sales in India

Mercedes-Benz is amongst the first German luxury carmakers to bet on the potential demand from the Indian market. While the share of luxury cars in India is still miniscule in India, for Mercedes-Benz India there is a growing appetite from Indian consumers for vehicles costing Rs 1 crore and above.

Santosh Iyer, VP – Sales & Marketing, Mercedes-Benz India spoke to Express Mobility and pointed out that the vehicles above Rs 1 crore price tag now constitute 30 percent of its sales, compared to 10-12 percent a couple of years back.

“That shows a significant increase in terms of customer behaviour and people wanting to buy Mercedes-Benz vehicles. Also, if you look at the waiting period for vehicles in that price bracket (Rs 1 crore and above) it has the highest waiting period. Ranging from 6 months to 12-months and going higher. There the customers are ready to wait, ready to pay because they want the best cars in the world,” added Iyer.

Also read: Mercedes AMG EQS 53 4MATIC+ launched at Rs 2.45 crore in India, 2 more luxury EV launches in 2022

What’s interesting to note is the fact that Mercedes-Benz over the years has kept strengthening its position in the Indian market and has been at the pole position in the luxury segment in volume terms by huge margins.

Case in point, since 2015, Mercedes-Benz has sold significantly more luxury cars compared to other global competitors like BMW and Audi, in the country.

If one compares the number of vehicles sold in the country for the last 6 years (2015-2021), Mercedes-Benz India has continued to hold a dominating average market share of 52 percent compared to 31 percent by BMW India and 21 percent held by Audi. This, according to the company, is due to the fact that it has kept bringing models across various price points, body styles and powertrains.

Going forward, with the first half of 2022 over, the company has already sold over 7,573 units in the January-June period, which was 56 percent higher compared to the same period last year. And with the way things are shaping up, the company believes that it might be on track to record its best-ever yearly sales performance.