Mercedes Benz demand from cities like Madurai, Thiruvananthapuram, Kochi

Buoyed by the rising demand for luxury cars in the Indian market, Mercedes-Benzautomobile maker Mercedes Benz India announced that it aims to sell 3,000 cars across the country within the existing year.

The luxury car maker sold 2,491 units in India during the last year

Wilfred Aulbur, company's Managing Director and CEO, stated, “Across India there is a significant demand for luxury cars and luxury products. For us this is very encouraging as it indicates that the economic development in the last few years is paying off.”

The company today kicked off its Kerala dealer Rajasree Motors’ new showroom at nearby Maradu.

The company was able to sell 1,300 Mercedes-Benz cars in Kerala during the first four months of this year.

“While Delhi and Mumbai are the two big important markets, down south there is a close race between Hyderabad, Chennai and Bangalore. There is a growing demand from cities like Kochi, Thiruvananthapuram and Madurai,” Mr. Aulbur added.

The company has also expressed its interest in the luxury bus segment, and had signed up a deal with Jalandhar-based Sutlej Motors for the creation of the bus body. The launch of the luxury bus is scheduled in the second half of the existing year.

In order to meet up future requirements, Mercedes Benz is also establishing a Rs 350 crore manufacturing plant at Chakan in Pune on a 100 acre area. The plant would have an annual capacity to make 5,000 passenger cars and 1,200 commercial vehicles.

The Mercedes Benz locally makes S Class, E class and C class cars in India, and imports Mercedes Benz S class, M class, CL class and popular SLK class and CLS class as completely built units.

Info about Mercedes-Benz:

• Mercedes-Benz is a German manufacturer of luxury and high-performance automobiles, buses, coaches, and trucks owned by Daimler AG. Mercedes-Benz has, over the years, introduced many technological and safety features that have become common in modern vehicles.
• Mercedes-Benz automobiles are available at dealerships in over 130 countries and their work fleet (trucks and commercial vehicles) are available from a group of dealers worldwide as well as the factory-direct. As with several European brand automobiles, Mercedes has offered a European delivery option for purchasing of a Mercedes-Benz automobile for American customers.
• Today Mercedes-Benz has a full range of passenger, light commercial and heavy commercial vehicles. Production is on a Global basis. The Smart brand of city cars has also been part of the Mercedes-Benz Group since 1994.
• Since its inception, Mercedes-Benz had a reputation for quality and durability. Objective measures looking at Passenger vehicles such as J.D. Power surveys demonstrated a downturn in reputation in this area in the late 1990s and early 2000s. By 2005, Mercedes temporarily returned to the industry average for initial quality, according to J.D. Power.[1] In J.D. Power's Initial Quality Study for the first quarter of 2007, Mercedes showed dramatic improvement by climbing to 4th place, surpassing quality leader Toyota and earning several awards for its models