The great Indian Luxury car race

There is the ongoing slowdown, the auto industry is facing macroeconomic headwinds, and fuel costs are rising. All this has resulted in many automakers seeing lower growth rates. The luxury car market, which is generally unaffected by macroeconomic headwinds, too, has seen its share of uneven growth—but growth it has seen. And in this uneven growth we see a quiet race going on in the segment, especially among the Germans, and a lone upcoming Swede.

Since the early years of the auto industry, the name Mercedes-Benz has been a synonym for luxury. It was the market leader until a couple of years ago when BMW and Audi came up as serious challengers to the brand. (Today, BMW is the market leader, followed by Audi.) Mercedes has since upped the ante and launched the third-generation M-Class. In fact, the new SUV—in a falling market, product launches lift sentiments—drove some growth for the company and Mercedes grew by 10% in June. According to Peter Honegg, MD & CEO, Mercedes-Benz India, "The new M-Class was long waited by the customers and the SUV has got a good response since its India launch." For the record, in India, Mercedes has the densest network penetration among the luxury car players with 70 outlets across 31 cities.

"We aim to give our customers 'the best or nothing'—which is our new slogan. Key enablers behind this would be our slew of new product launches like the sports tourer B-Class this year, engaging interfaces with customers by giving them enhanced vehicle ownership experiences, and a deeper network penetration," Peter Honegg adds. He also says that the company is looking at tier-2 and tier-3 markets for the next phase of growth. "Over time, we estimate close to 50% of our annual sales coming from cities beyond Mumbai and Delhi."

... contd.

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