The luxury segment will see some major action next year in the form of major launches from Mercedes-Benz. A report from Autocar India says that the German automaker will launch four new models across various segments starting from the end of this year.
The first car in the line-up will be the new S-Class luxury sedan. It was unveiled in May of this year at a function in Germany and went on sale a month later. It is a completely new design and features a significant amount of technology. The report suggests that the first car in the ‘Class’ will be the V8- engined S500 which will be brought to India via the CBU route. It is expected to be followed by the S350CDI which is believed to currently be the most popular model in the S-Class range. The latter will be assembled locally at the German automaker’s plant outside Pune. When launched, the new S-Class will compete with the BMW 7-Series, Audi A8L, Jaguar XL L and the Volkswagen Phaeton.
Next in line is the CLA compact sedan. It is slated for an Indian debut in the middle of next year and will join the A-Class and B-Class as the third car to be based on the MFA platform. It has already been launched in most of the European markets as well as Asian markets.
The CLA sedan will be followed in 2015 by the recently unveiled GLA crossover as the fourth model to use the MFA platform. It is Mercedes-Benz’s entry into the rapidly expanding and rather popular crossover category and will compete with vehicles like the Audi Q3 and BMW X1.
While the report suggests that the final vehicle in the list is an RHD version of the GLK SUV in 2016, we also expect that Mercedes-Benz will also launch the new C-Class which due to be out next year.