India's identity as a 'Mercedes country' will be under threat this year, as arch rival Bayerische Motoren Werke (better known as BMW) is on course to dethrone the Stuttgart-headquartered luxury car maker from the top slot for the first time ever in India.
Mercedes Benz just about managed to keep its neck ahead last year, with a lead of 537 units over BMW, according to data available with the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers. However, handicapped by inadequate vehicle kits for the first nine months of this year for one of its models, a senior company executive stated it is unlikely Mercedes Benz will be able to surpass its own total posted last year. Mercedes Benz India sold 3,445 units last calendar year, while BMW sold 2,908.
This year, BMW took the lead during the January-August period, with sales of 2,305 units as compared to 1,876 posted by Mercedes Benz.
Wilfried Aulbur, managing director and CEO, Mercedes Benz India, said: "We simply had far less number of kits available with us to satisfy the demand of the E-class (outgoing model), which was in the process of being phased out. We have introduced the new E-class with just one variant, which has a petrol engine. Our sales this year will be less primarily because the launch of the new E-class slowed things down."He, however, declined to quantify the drop in sales the company is expecting.
Mercedes was forced to curtail its E-class supplies since the later part of last year, as it was gearing up to launch its newer version of the same car, labelled as the 2010 edition.The E-class, brought to India as a completely knocked down unit and assembled at the Pune facility, comprises more than 30 per cent of the company's total sales in India. The last of the old E-class, rolled out from Pune four weeks before the new one, started production last month.
While BMW is aiming for sales in excess of 3,000 units this year, experts say the company will surpass the figure comprehensively, considering the growth so far this year has been 13-15 per cent.
The absence of a diesel variant, as well as a step-down option in the petrol version in the new E-Class, will impact Mercedes sales this year say experts. The recently launched all-new E-Class is available only in the top-end variant, having a 3.5 litre, V6 petrol engine priced at Rs 46.97 lakh (ex-showroom, Delhi).
Meanwhile, the 5-series, 7-series and SUV models of BMW continue to show robust demand, with sales growing in double digits. The company is gearing to launch the Z4 convertible sedan next week, in the price bracket of Rs 50-60 lakh to further boost its presence.
Already, Mercedes is preparing to come back hard at BMW, hoping the new E-class will bring back the lagging momentum next year."I think we simply had just 650 kits of the E-class for the first nine months of this year and we are starting with just one engine variant with the new model. We won't be able to catch up with the numbers posted last year in just three months. There is a lot of demand for this segment and we are very hopeful that 2010 will be a blockbuster year," added Aulbur.
