Mercedes Benz,the German premium car maker announced that it is going to fetch its A and B class cars into India within next 3 to 4 years.It has also planned to locally assemble them in order to make the prices of its vehicles competitive and to get back its lost position from BMW.
The Managing Director and CEO of Mercedes Benz India,Mr.Peter Honegg reported that they do not have enough locally assembled products in India and his current portfolio does not allow him to compete with his competitors at this time.He also added that the company currently does not offer any product in a price range where models such as BMW’s X1 exist.They will bring in A and B Class cars into India in the next 3-4 years and the company at its headquarters in Germany was mooting whether to produce the vehicles at a local level.
He further declared that if he do not produce these A and B Class cars locally, he can’t get the numbers. They will be able to compete with BMW only when they produce the cars locally and the decision to produce them locally will be taken by Germany.
Currently,Mercedes Benz is assembling C, E and S Class luxury sedans at its Chakan unit, which has a capability of producing up to 10,000 units annually on two shifts.The cheapest Benz car in India is C class which starts at a price of Rs.25.48 lakhs in the ex-showroom, Delhi.