Q: How has been the first quarter of 2023 for Mercedes-Benz India?
A: Mercedes-Benz delivered its ‘Best ever Q1’ with 4697 new cars sold in Q1 2023, a growth of 17%. This underlines the strong desirability of the brand among discerning Indian luxury car buyers. The robust growth of 107% in the Top End vehicle (TEV) segment, and the increased preference for our EVs reflect the changing profile of Mercedes-Benz customers in India. They prefer to combine sustainability and luxury at the highest level.
Q: What kind of progress do you see in the next ninth months?
A: With this sales momentum, we continue our product offensive, introduce new initiatives and remain committed to enhancing our customer experience. Our focus is on reducing the waiting period for our products and ensuring our customers get their cars as early as possible. We expect double-digit growth for MB India in 2023, however, we are cautiously optimistic.
Q: Tell us about your best-selling models and their contribution to the total volumes.
A: The E-Class LWB & GLS remained one of the highest-selling models for Mercedes-Benz in Q1 2023. In terms of sedans, E-Class LWB and C-Class together grew by 27% and comprise 30% of Q1 2023 volumes.
Our Top End Vehicle portfolio (comprising GLS, S-Class, Maybach & AMGs) grew by an outstanding 107% in Q1 2023 underlining the strong affinity for this high-end segment.
Q: Please share a break-up of SUVs versus Sedans in the total volume of Mercedes-Benz India for the last 3-5 years.
Q. What strategy Mercedes-Benz India is implementing to onboard first-time luxury car buyers?
A: First-time buyers of luxury cars evaluate the value of purchase as a key decision-making factor. To support their aspirations, Mercedes-Benz Financial Services provides customizable and flexible financing options like Star Agility+, which assures buyback value across ICE and EV.
Moreover, features such as lower monthly payments, flexible end-of-term options, digital processes, and a range of payment plans to suit different budgets and preferences are also offered to encourage customers to pursue their dream of owning a Mercedes-Benz.
Once the customer makes this decision, they are supported with a seamless, transparent onboarding journey through our direct-to-customer omnichannel retail model Retail of the Future.
Their hassle-free ownership is equally assured with the industry-best 8 years engine and transmission warranty (A-Class, GLA & GLB) and attractive Service options, which drive the value of ownership.
Q. Can you share the volume break-up between Urban and Tier-I, and II cities? How have Tier-I, II cities grown in the past few years?
A: While the metro cities continue to drive demand for Mercedes-Benz India, we are witnessing gradual increase in interest from emerging markets. This is led by the impetus to infrastructure, improved roadways and preference for personal mobility after the pandemic.
In terms of EVs, the customer awareness and interest levels in T2 and T3 markets is at par with large metros. For customers in these smaller markets, it is convenient for them to have charging at home, as they own independent houses. We have seen cities like Cuttack, Karnal, Calicut and other markets warming up to luxury EVs.
Q. Do you identify any new set of customers who are now buying luxury cars in India? What kind of customer trends have you spotted in the past few years in the luxury space?
A: In the past few years, we have witnessed aspiration driving young customers opting for luxury products and services. Today, across the Mercedes-Benz product portfolio, the customer set is getting younger.
In fact, even for the flagship Mercedes-Benz S-Class, the average customer age has come down to 38, and for C-Class it is 35 years. Recently, a new set of ‘salaried employees’ and ‘professionals’ are opting for luxury and premium vehicles. Similarly, the number of women customers across different pockets of the country is rapidly increasing again due to preference for personal mobility, higher disposable income and improved infrastructure suitable for road travels.
Among these new customer sets, we see high personal aspiration driven by brand awareness.
Q. How has the response to electric vehicles been in the luxury car market? What is the current contribution of EVs to your product portfolio? What are your targets for the next three years?
A: Mercedes-Benz has a clear lead in the luxury EV market in India, being the first luxury OEM to locally produce high-end EVs in India, backed by the widest network of Ultra-Fast chargers, having best-in-class battery warranty and also best Residual Value.
The long waiting list for the EQB and EQS underlines the overwhelming customer interest for these EVs. Currently, we are striving to reduce the waiting period of these EVs which ranges from 5 month for an EQB to 3 months for an EQS.
We have a very aggressive roadmap for the EVs in India and will be launching 4 new EVs in next 8-16 months from our global portfolio. Our aim is to have 25% of our sales from EVs by 2027.
Q. Please share your expansion plans in terms of your reach and new product launches.
A: Our core strategy is to introduce the ‘most desirable’ products for the Indian customers. We have an attractive and desirable portfolio in India and we will continue to enhance it. MB India already launched 2 TEVs in 2023 and we have 8 more products lined up for India from the global portfolio.
