Despite Sales Dip, Mercedes-Benz India Maintains Pole Position For 5th Straight Year

Mercedes-Benz India on Friday said it remained the market leader in the domestic luxury car segment for the fifth straight year in 2019, selling 13,786 units. However, this was 11.3 per cent lower from 2018, when it had sold 15,538 units. In the December quarter, the Pune-based company clocked sales growth of 3.3 per cent, selling 3,781 units -- its highest ever quarterly volume, it said in a statement. The company also sounded bullish about 2020 and said it will continue with its product offensive, which will begin with the launch of an all-new GLE on January 28.

The company said it could maintain its pole position on the back of a record 54 per cent growth in its performance vehicles segment led by the CLA, GLA and GLS models, whose new generation variants will be available from Q2 of 2020. Mercedes will also be the first luxury car maker to completely transition into BS-VI portfolio with petrol and diesel models shortly.

"Amidst strong macroeconomic headwinds, our volumes in Q4 also grew by 15.41 percent from Q3 2019, taking the overall volume to 13,786 units in 2019, down 11.3 percent from 2018," the company said.

Against this, rival BMW saw its volumes dip 13.8 per cent to 9,641 units in 2019 from 11,105 units in 2018. The German carmaker despatched 9,000 BMWs and 641 Minis in the year. Besides, its two-wheeler brand BMW Motorrad sold 2,403 motorcycles last year.

The third German player Audi is yet to disclose its sales numbers.

Mercedes-Benz India Managing Director and Chief Executive Martin Schwenk said, "We are satisfied with our performance in 2019 despite facing strong macroeconomic headwinds, specifically in the first three quarters. We were able to positively influence customer sentiment with our solutions and achieved the new best ever Q4."

The year 2020 is going to be another important year for the firm and it continues to be optimistic about mid- to long-term prospects, he added.

The company had an overwhelming response to its entire BS-IV portfolio and it is now ready with the all-new BS-VI range, ahead of the deadline, he said.

This year the market will witness a strong product offensive from Mercedes-Benz, beginning with the new GLE, followed by some of the most significant product introductions from its global portfolio, including those without any predecessors, Schwenk said.