Mercedes-Benz India 132 percent growth in October sales

Mercedes-Benz India achieves 132 per cent growth in sales in October'09

Mercedes-Benz India announced a sale of 325 units of passenger vehicles in October 2009. This is an increase of 132 per cent as compared to their October 2008 performance (140 units in Oct 2008) and takes their cumulative numbers to 2,640 units of passenger cars for the period January – October 2009.

“In tune with the rest of the market, 2009 was a slow start for us. However we have witnessed increased demand since the second half of this year and October 2009 is the continuation of this growth story.The new E-Class which made its debut end of September 2009 and has won hearts of customers with its bold looks and aggressive stance and has sold 127 units in October 2009,” commented Dr. Wilfried Aulbur, managing director and CEO of Mercedes-Benz India.

The S-Class, the leading luxury vehicle from the Mercedes-Benz stable also registered very strong sales performance with 30 units sold in October 2009 (as compared to 6 units in October 2008). The C-Class has also added to the volumes netting 153 units in October 2009 (100 units in Oct 2008).

Debashis Mitra, director- Sales and Marketing, “Mercedes-Benz India offers the widest and deepest portfolio for customers; our network penetration is the deepest across the Indian luxury car segment. We have worked very closely with our customers to ensure that our products, service and the value proposition match their needs. October sales numbers are encouraging for us.”
Source:[wheelsunplugged.com]

Mercedes-Benz India sees lower sales in 2009

Mercedes-Benz India expects 2009 sales to be lower than the previous year largely because of lower availability of credit and also due to the effect of the global economic crisis.

The company sold 2,650 cars between January and October, said Wilfried Aulbur, Managing Director and CEO, Mercedes-Benz India. In 2008, the company had sold 3625 cars. However, there has been a recovery in the sales of cars in the luxury segment, he added.

“In the first half of the year, there was a certain amount of cooling down because of the unavailability of credit,” said Aulbur. He said there has been a change in attitude and confidence is back, and the company should be seeing some good numbers. However, he declined to give a sales projection.

The car-maker has about 300 people in R&D centres in Bangalore and Pune. Aulbur said there would be expansion in this space next year that would lead to some employment generation. But he declined to share further details.

Aulbur was speaking at the launch of the E350 CDI BlueEfficiency model in India, which is powered by a diesel engine. The petrol variant of the same car that had been launched some time ago and the company has sold 130 cars in 45 days.
Source:[moneycontrol.com]

Mercedes open to CNG E-Class imports

Mercedes Benz India is ready to deliver the CNG variant of its E-Class sedan to customers who need them, said Dr Wilfried Aulbur, Managing Director.

“We have a CNG variant and will import it based on demand,” he told Business Line on the sidelines of the launch of the new E-Class here on Sunday.

The downside is that the imported car will attract 104 per cent duty, which will mean that it will be twice as much the latest edition of the E-Class (petrol) that costs Rs 45.89 lakh (ex-showroom Mumbai). The fact that CNG is largely retailed in Delhi and Mumbai also means that the market will be confined to these two cities.

Dr Aulbur said the company would consider assembly of the CNG version if there was adequate demand. The petrol Merc models are E-25 (25 per cent mix of ethanol) compliant while the diesel options can operate on bio-diesel.

Mercedes had earlier conducted a trial run of the CNG-E Class in India. The mileage of the car is estimated to be 18 km a kg. As for the bus business, Dr Aulbur said private operators were not too enthusiastic about buying intercity luxury coaches due to the swine flu outbreak which hit occupancy rates. The company has sold 25 buses so far this year. Incidentally, Mercedes-Benz India opened a new dealership in Jalandhar on Monday.

Mercedes-Benz India to launch three-axle trucks

Mercedes-Benz India is slated to launch three-axle trucks in the next six months to a year. That will will be followed by launching of city buses. Talking to reporters at the launch of New Actros 4841K in Kolkata on Friday, Mr Wilfried Aulbur, managing director & CEO, Mercedes-Benz India said: "We’ve just launched two-axle trucks in India. Trial tests for three-axle trucks are already on and we hope to launch it in the next six months to a year."

Nevertheless, the company hopes to sell about 240 trucks in India during 2009, which is tipped to translate in Rs 145 crore revenue for the company's trucks business. During 2008, the company sold the same number of trucks. It now feels the market will improve only in 2010 when a growth a likely to be witnessed in the truck segment.

Mercedes-Benz is banking on growth in the coal mining segment, where its trucks are being used mainly for over-burden removal – the soil that needs to be removed for extracting coal. Talking about the buses segment, Mr Aulber said: "The economic recession and swine-flu has hit the city buses sector very hard -- the one in which we operate. The private market is very dull. This has forced us to shift focus to state transport agencies and we have started talks with various state governments."

Interestingly, Merc is also looking at a sizeable opportunity across the fire departments of various states and the defence sector. "We have already sold a few trucks to a fire department in Mumbai and are looking at opportunities in the defence sector. The Merc stable offers vehicles that are suited for the defence sector and are in use by some governments. These could be a possibility in India," said Mr Aulbur. In India, the commercial vehicle segment offers about 15% of the total revenue to Mercedes-Benz India while it is 40% globally.