Luxury car market leader accelerates strategic move to expand its network to emerging markets in India, which can be future growth engines even as the overall industry experiences a slowdown.
26 Nov 2019 | 26716 Views | By Autocar Professional Bureau
Mercedes-Benz India, the luxury car market leader in India, is strategically targeting sales in Tier 2 and Tier 3 towns in the country. The company, which is celebrating 25 years of operations in India, has now entered the capital of Chhattisgarh – Raipur.
On November 26, the carmaker ...
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Mercedes-Benz India, the luxury car market leader in India, is strategically targeting sales in Tier 2 and Tier 3 towns in the country. The company, which is celebrating 25 years of operations in India, has now entered the capital of Chhattisgarh – Raipur.
On November 26, the carmaker announced the appointment of City Star as its new dealer-partner in Raipur. The existing 3S outlet, operated by the newly appointed partner, is strategically located in the automobile belt of the city. City Star will be a key access point to Mercedes-Benz customers in Raipur itself and adjoining areas of Bhilai, Durg, Bilaspur, Jagdalpur and Korba.
Raipur remains a strong market for Mercedes-Benz India, which sees good potential in the region. The demand for sedans is high and they contribute about 50 percent to overall sales in the region. The E-Class Long Wheel Base (LWB), which is the best-selling Mercedes-Benz in India in the January-September 2019 period, is popular with business owners from the SME segment and contributes over 25 percent of the sedan portfolio. This is followed by SUVs, which contributes nearly 35 percent. The customer profile in the region largely consists of businesspersons, SMEs and doctors.
The 3S luxury facility is the sole luxury 3S outlet in Raipur. While the dealership is spread across 43,000 square feet and has 9 car displays and 40 trained professionals, it also has 3 service bays for PMGR and B&P jobs that can service up to 1,700 cars a year.
Commenting on the new partnership, Martin Schwenk, MD and CEO, Mercedes-Benz India said, “For Mercedes-Benz India, emerging Tier 2 markets like Raipur are future growth engines and provide an opportunity to create new customer base for the brand. The customers in these markets are affluent, well-travelled, highly aspirational and have a penchant for owning luxury brands like Mercedes-Benz. The appointment of a local partner in Raipur reiterates our renewed focus on the market. Appointment of a local partner also gives us a better understanding of the customer requirement and also higher flexibility and faster decision-making, leading to sharper focus on customer centricity.”
Sunil Madhyani, managing director, City Star said, “We are glad to be a part Mercedes-Benz’s growth story in the country. At City Star, we share the same values as Mercedes-Benz India. With a strong hold in the Raipur region, we are confident that we will be able to provide services that are a competitive differentiator and set the standards in service excellence in this region.”
Crosses 10,000-unit sales mark in early October
Mercedes-Benz India, which announced sale of over 125 cars on Dussehra in Mumbai and 74 cars in Gujarat during Navrari, crossed the 10,000-unit mark in the first week of October (year to date), and said that it "will have an intense product offensive beginning Q4 2019, going into 2020."
Commenting on the sales performance in the first nine months of the year, Martin Schwenk, MD and CEO, Mercedes-Benz India said: “We are glad to maintain our market leadership in the luxury car market despite facing strong macro-economic headwinds from the earlier quarters, and also having a higher base in the segment. We are equally excited to witness great consumer feedback on our products in September. On the back of a strong September performance, we have already crossed the 10,000 units mark in the first week of October, and are confident of maintaining this growth momentum by leveraging the upbeat customer sentiment. Of particular satisfaction has been the 160% growth in the 'Dream Cars' segment, which once again underlines the luxury customers’ strong faith in the three-pointed star. We are hopeful and expect sales to rise slightly in the full year. Mercedes-Benz continues to remain bullish on the mid- to long-term prospects of the dynamic Indian market.”
Also read: Mercedes-Benz India sells 9,915 units in first 9 months of 2019, down 16%