In a bid to drive sales of its AMG brand in India, luxury carmaker Mercedes-Benz India has opened its first AMG Performance Centre in Delhi at T&T Motors.
15 May 2014 | 3429 Views | By Shobha Mathur
In a bid to drive sales of its AMG brand in India, luxury carmaker Mercedes-Benz India has opened its first AMG Performance Centre in Delhi at T&T Motors. It also rolled out its high-performance ML 63 AMG SUV at a price tag of Rs 1.49 crore (ex-showroom Delhi). Similar outlets ...
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In a bid to drive sales of its AMG brand in India, luxury carmaker Mercedes-Benz India has opened its first AMG Performance Centre in Delhi at T&T Motors. It also rolled out its high-performance ML 63 AMG SUV at a price tag of Rs 1.49 crore (ex-showroom Delhi). Similar outlets are to be opened in Bangalore and Mumbai soon.
The AMG Performance Centre will enable a more customised service to its customers and give a fillip to its luxury SUV portfolio in India. Mario Spitzner, director (Branding and Marketing) Mercedes – AMG GmbH, Affalterbach, said, “The AMG Performance Centre will serve as the perfect place for car enthusiasts to discover the right AMG car, concept and accessories for an unparalleled driving experience.”
The Centre has sales and service experts, who have undergone a rigorous and uniform global training program, to ensure quality customer service.
Speaking at the launch of the New Delhi facility, Eberhard Kern, MD and CEO, Mercedes-Benz India, said the company plans to double the sales of the high-performance AMG models in India during CY 2014 from the current 200 on road.
In CY2013, Mercedes-Benz India posted overall sales of 9,003 units, a 32 percent year-on year growth (CY2012: 6,840 units). In CY 2014, Benz is looking to record double-digit growth over the previous year.
The company’s focus areas are products, network expansion and aftersales service. The existing 64-outlet network across 36 cities is to be expanded to 47 outlets in 2014. “We will add another 11 new outlets in CY2014 and bring six additional new models during the year. We have already launched four new products out of the 10 products lined up for the year,” confirmed Kern. Most of the new outlets will come in Tier 2 cities like Bhubaneswar, Raipur, Bhopal and Mohali.
The carmaker launched eight new products last year. All the new models to roll out during 2014 will be at the top-end and not stripped-down models or editions. On January 8, it launched the new S-class and 20 days later rolled out the new C-class Grand edition from its assembly line in Chakan, Pune which also marked its 50,000th rollout. This was followed by the M-Guard Special protection vehicle, CLA 45 AMG and the European production model GLA at the Auto Expo. The GL 63 AMG for India was recently launched.
In March 2014, Mercedes announced local assembly operations of the new S 500 within two months of its global launch. The new ML 63 AMG will be brought in as a CBU and will be among the new models to be brought soon to India will be the CLA 45 AMG, which was earlier shown at the Auto Expo 2014.
At present the carmaker’s AMG portfolio in India consists of six models including the G 63 AMG, GL 63 AMG and ML 63 AMG.
In Q1, 2014, the carmaker registered a growth of 27 percent with total sales of 2,554 units, which was its best-ever quarter in terms of sales. Growing demand for the A-class and the B-class compact cars saw them contribute 20 percent to the total sales volume in Q1.
Photograph: Eberhard Kern, MD and CEO, Mercedes-Benz India and Mario Spitzner, director (Branding & Marketing) Mercedes-AMG GmbH.