- Company believes that EV industry is still in its nascent stage
- Will focus on infrastructure for EVs
- Will also consider plug-in hybrids for India
Mercedes-Benz has stated to the media that the company is taking a cautious approach towards launching electric vehicles (EVs) in India. Mercedes-Benz believes that the EV industry is still in its nascent stage. Speaking on the occasion, Martin Schwenk, Mercedes-Benz India Managing Director and CEO, said, “I think with electric vehicles, we will see some development. We are seeing some market announcements. Already, we have seen slow entries (launch of electric vehicles).”
As for the company’s plan to foray into the electric vehicle business, he said, 'From infrastructure perspective, some works need to be done. From customer demand perspective, it is not really hot.' Schwenk said, 'For our company at the global-level, we have quite a few cars lined up and by 2022 we will have 10 pure electric vehicles on the global scale'.
Mercedes-Benz will also look at plug-in hybrids specifically for countries like India. However, the company not yet announced nor introduced any electric vehicle for the Indian market. Martin further stated, “Based on global portfolio and seeing how the market develops, we will make a call on how to implement. We do not feel we should rush in because we need to have right momentum to really get it on the road.”
