The calendar year 2022 has been the best year for Mercedes Benz India, and 2023 continues to show a promising future for the brand, said Santosh Iyer, MD and CEO, Mercedes-Benz India.
As a part of its 2023 strategy, the company has announced its plans to launch ten models during the year. This includes the AMG E 53 Cabriolet 4MATIC+ and the GLC, which is planned to be showcased in Q3 2023.
Concluding 2022 On Highest Note
During his presentation, Iyer noted that the company witnessed sales of 15,822 units in CY22, which is 41% higher than the 11,242 units sold in 2021. Meanwhile, the company also witnessed its best quarterly sales in Q4FY22.
With the LWB E-class making the most of the sales for the brand in India, followed by the GLC, the MD claimed that the company has grown its market share in the luxury car market by 1.2% over the last year to garner 50.6% of the segment making it the eighth consecutive year for the carmaker to finish on the top.
Other key sellers for the brand in 2022 were the C-class, S-Class, GLA, GLE and GLS.
Iyer noted that had there been no chip shortages, the company would have clocked much higher sales. The current average waiting period on the portfolio is four to nine months.
Meanwhile, the Retail Of The Future initiative launched in 2021 helped the company seal over 2,000 bookings in CY22.
Driving Ahead
Buoyed by the high demand for the products, the German luxury carmaker in India has announced its theme for 2023, ‘Desire For Extraordinaire.' As a part of this, it has pointed out six key areas to propel its growth story for 2023.
The six strategic pillars include:
- Think and Act like a luxury Brand:
As a part of this, the brand plans to introduce several international and local customer engagement programmes, such as track days. Besides, it plans to introduce several financing options under the Mercedes-Benz financing are also in the pipelines.
- Focus on Profitable Growth:
Mercedes-Benz India introduced the Mercedes Me a few months ago, wherein customers can buy subscription packages from the brand for their Mercedes vehicles. It plans to add more subscription-based features, such as an entertainment package, rear axle steering package, and adaptive high beam assist, among others, under the On-Demand package starting at INR 1,599.
The Renewal Package, which includes a small package for personalisation, a navigation package, and excellent package (?), has been priced starting at INR 7,999. Additionally, with the ROFT, the company is adding PIN-code-based and upfront pricing, direct business bookings, market configurable feature display and stock availability display, given increasing online adoption.
- Expand Customer Base by growing the super luxury segment:
Iyer noted that the company is witnessing an increasing adoption of Mercedes-Benz vehicles by young-age customers. He noted that the average age of an S-Class customer has come down to 38 years, while for the C-Class, it reached 35 years. Besides, the company is also witnessing an increase in demand for top end luxury market, which has risen to 22% in 2022 from 12% in 2018 for the car maker. In view of this, the brand aims to launch ten products in 2023.
Meanwhile, there also is an increase in demand for pre-owned Mercedes vehicles. For this, the brand plans to roll out Online Trade-in module on its website. The application aims to provide indicative price value for the car to be sold while allowing customers to choose a preferred dealership to trade in. Furthermore, an AI-based ‘i-evaluation app’ is also in the pipeline, allowing dealerships to precisely evaluate the price of the vehicle being sold to them.
- Lead in Electric Drive and Sustainability:
Mercedes-Benz India launched three EVs in 2022, bringing the total EV portfolio to four in India. While speaking to Mobility Outlook, Iyer noted that although the demand for EVs has not surpassed the ICE counterparts, the demand for EVs is still quite high, with a waiting period of over four years for each model. The company has set up 35 ultra-fast chargers to support these customers across the country. At the same time, the company is also providing complimentary chargers for the first year of ownership.
Meanwhile, in terms of operations, the company claims to be using 100% green energy at its Chakan plant while hosting over 300 species of flora and 75 species of fauna. Taking forward this sustainability achievement, Mercedes-bez announced that it plans to have 1/3 of its franchise partners operate on 100% green energy by 2023 and cent percent by 2025.
- Create Future ready people:
As the brand sees new opportunities in India, it plans to train and offer its employees and partners knowledge of the market and new technologies. For this, the Greman luxury brand has IIM Ahemdabad to train its franchise partner in the evolving luxury car market. Meanwhile, courses through LinkedIn learning are also offered to employees on Industry 5.0, EV readiness and data science.
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