Mercedes Benz India hopes to get back on growth track next year

NEW DELHI: After a lacklustre 2019, German luxury carmaker Mercedes Benz India hopes to get back on the growth track next year.

The company, whose sales declined 16% to 9,915 units in the nine months to September, is planning to launch a vehicle every month to attract buyers.

Mercedes Benz India managing director Martin Schwenk told ET that the local market saw a turnaround in sentiment during the festive season. The company is optimistic it will be able to sustain the momentum and register sales of around 15,000 units in 2020, he said.

“We have seen some positive trends in the market in the third quarter of the current calendar year, somewhat supported by the measures undertaken by the government,” said Schwenk. “We also worked on offers for different customer types, which helped deliver numbers in the festive season. Sales in the fourth quarter should be at similar levels as last year.”

The company’s sales in the second half of 2019 will be better than in the first half, he said. Nonetheless, this year the company is likely to will fall short of the sales of 15,538 units it had recorded in 2018.

Schwenk was speaking on the sidelines of the launch of Mercedes Benz GLC, which is priced at Rs 52.75 lakh onwards.

The executive said that although sales in India in the past few years have not been “satisfying”, the company is confident of the growth potential of the market. The German car maker has, therefore, not held back any investments or product launches, he said.

“We are proceeding as per set plans, be it investments, product interventions... However, higher volumes will enable us to do deeper localisation, come closer to mass production,” said Schwenk.

He said Mercedes Benz India is on track to transition to BS VI emission norms next year and is working towards maintaining lean inventory of BS IV vehicles at its dealerships to switch over smoothly. Diesel vehicles with the enhanced technology will be cleaner and fuel efficient, he said.

Schwenk also said that while the company is cautious about introducing an electric vehicle given the constraints related to infrastructure in India, plug-in hybrid vehicles are an optimal solution for the local market. There will be some “movement” from the company in the electric vehicles segment next year, he said.