The last quarter of 2012 saw a slump in sales of Mercedes which forced the
luxury car maker to introduce the cheapest model of the Mercedes in India to boost its sale on Tuesday .
Mercedes-Benz India Pvt. Ltd introduced its B-Class compact vehicle. It all happened after German rivals Bayerische Motoren Werke AG (BMW) and Audi AG's increased sale in local market.
Demand for such cars helped BMW overtake Mercedes as the largest-selling luxury car maker in India in 2011. Audi, which introduced the Q3 model in 2012, has pushed Mercedes to the third position and is set to overtake market leader BMW. Competition among the three luxury car makers is likely to intensify as they introduce cheaper models, making their cars accessible to a larger number of brand-conscious Indians.
Available in two variants B 180 and the B 180 Sport, the price starts from Rs.21.49 lakhs (ex-showroom, Mumbai) and goes up to Rs.24.87 lakh for the Sport variant.
BMW India Pvt. Ltd’s cheapest X1 model, a compact sports utility vehicle (SUV), costs Rs.23.85 lakh (ex-showroom, Delhi) while Audi sells its Q3 compact SUV at Rs.26.21 lakh.
The B-Class claims to have a fuel efficiency of 14.81 km/litre. Globally, the car has sold 75,000 units since it was introduced earlier this year. Mercedes’s B-Class compact car globally competes with cars such as Audi’s A3 hatchback, Volkswagen AG’s Touran and Ford Motor Co.’s C-Max.
Debashis Mitra, director, sales and marketing, Mercedes-Benz India, said that the company is excited by the initial response from buyers. In a statement, the company said that it has sold out the B-class for this year and customers who have booked the car will get possession of the vehicles in January.
“The sellout of the new B-Class in the pre-launch phase convinces us that there is a latent demand for ‘Sports Tourers’ in India and they are looking forward for cars loaded with features,” Mitra said. The company did not disclose the number of units it has sold in the market.
In an interview with Mint in July, Mitra said India will be getting nominal numbers of the petrol variant of the car. A wide price difference between petrol and diesel has forced Indian motorists to switch to cars that run on diesel.
“We will only be able to get the petrol variants initially as globally there is a shortfall of at least 25,000-30,000 units of B-class. We will be getting very nominal numbers as all the plants globally are running to capacity. The diesel variant will only come in the next 18 months,” Mitra had said on 19 July. “Having said that, we sincerely believe that the demand for petrol cars in the country will revive as petrol prices will moderate with the international crude coming down.”
In the three months ended 30 June, BMW sold 2,088 units, down 12.2% from the year earlier, Audi sold 1,908 units, up 50%, and Mercedes sold 1,257 units, down 24.4%. Luxury car makers report their quarterly sales numbers to Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers.
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