Mercedes-Benz takes top spot among luxury car manufacturers once again

Mercedes-Benz has once again taken the top spot among the luxury car manufacturers in India. The Stuttgart based manufacturer has lost the top spot more than three years ago to rival BMW who then lost the position to Audi. Now thanks to a slew launches which included the A-Class hatchback on the 30th of May, Mercedes-Benz has made it back to the top step. 

It managed to sell 810 units as compared to Audi’s 705 units for the month of July. This number is also believed to be significantly higher than the sales figures of BMW. However, in terms of overall numbers in the period January-July 2013, Audi sold 5, 551 units while Mercedes-Benz sold 4, 575 units.      

The company has also said that as a part of its product line up for the Indian market it will launch an entry level sedan and a compact SUV. While it is almost certain that the entry level sedan is the CLA, the compact SUV will be the GLA which is scheduled to be launched at the upcoming Frankfurt Motor Show. We can expect that CLA sedan will be launched here by the end of the year and GLA crossover early next year. 

Commenting on the achievement, Eberhard Kern, CEO of Mercdes-Benz India said, “2013 is the year of offensive for Mercedes-Benz India as we have unleashed some of our most fascinating products for the Indian market. We are happy that the new E-Class, A-Class, B-Class and GL-Class have been receiving a strong customer traction from all markets and we are working with our headquarters for more allocations of these cars to reduce the waiting period. We have always focused on a profitable and sustainable growth and will continue to do that. At Mercedes-Benz India, we are getting future ready as we are not only launching new segments, but also continuously investing in our production facility in India, strategically expanding our network and also enhancing our cost of ownership programmes. Though the market currently is going through a downturn, we firmly believe that, only fundamentally strong brands like Mercedes-Benz, are able to do better and reverse the trend. We also believe that with these strong fundamentals in place and a focused approach, numbers will only be a natural outcome.”

 “We thank our customers for their trust in the three pointed star, which also makes us shine as the ‘Most Admired Automobile Brand’ in different reputed surveys, in recent times. The product offensive initiated in 2013 is just the beginning of a range of unique initiatives which we together with our dealer partners have started this year, aimed at providing more value to our discerning customers,” he added.