Mercedes-Benz to bring new S-Class to 2014 Indian Auto Expo

“Mercedes-Benz will display the new S-Class at the upcoming 2014 Auto Expo,” said Eberhard Kern, CEO and MD of Mercedes-Benz India to CarWale on the side lines of the launch of the C-Class ‘Edition-C’ yesterday. While he was hesitant in elaborating on their plans related to the flagship sedan for the coming year, he did say that the company was nearly done with the current stock of its largest sedan and was hopeful the new one would be launched here soon. The 2014 Mercedes-Benz S-Class was unveiled earlier this year in Germany and is currently on sale across Europe.

The German automaker is currently spending Rs 850 crore to expand its plant at Chakan in a bid to increase the number of models it will produce locally. It is almost certain that the first two cars in this line-up will be the A-Class premium hatchback and the B-Class MPV which currently account for 20 percent of the company’s sales.

Commenting on sales during the festive season, Kern said that they had experienced a growth of 32 percent in the third quarter and this was in line with their expectations. He added that a majority of numbers were made up from the sales of the C-Class and the E-Class sedans. In terms of raw numbers, diesel models constituted 80 percent of the sales while petrol made up 20 percent. However, Kern said that he expected to this number to gradually change over the next six to seven years.

We asked him about the recently unveiled GLA sedan’s arrival in India, to which he said that it would take at least another year as the crossover was slated for launch in LHD European markets during the middle of next year. Only once that had taken place, the company would consider making an allocation for markets like India and added that even then the car would have to be adapted for the Indian road conditions before it was launched.  Mercedes-Benz also hopes to increase the number of Indian OEM suppliers into Mercedes-Benz’s global supply chain and currently has a dedicated team working out of Pune in this regard.

 Finally, commenting on the CLA sedan, he said that there was incredible demand for the compact sedan since it was launched and that the company would take some time to complete the orders. It was India bound but he did not specify when this would happen.