Mercedes Benz believes that India would be in the top 5 markets as far as luxury segment of the car spectrum is concerned. Coming from the horse’s mouth, this shouldn’t be an arguable statement. The car industry in India has been on a song ever since last year and the momentum doesn’t look to wane anytime soon. The automobile market grew by a good 40 % last year and most of it was dominated by the small car segment. But then the luxury car segment grew at the rate of 56%. This is commendable for a country obsessed with economy of scales.
The company’s CEO Peter Honegg has made the aforementioned comment and the reason he says is because he feels that the Indian luxury car market is going the same way as the Chinese market. China had always resisted the luxury cars but as of now, in a span of last 2-3 years, the Chinese public have become more receptive to luxury cars and more so by Mercedes. Last month’s sales figure quoted by Mercedes for India is proof enough that Mr Peter Honegg’s comments wouldn’t have come at a more appropriate time. He also mentioned that Mercedes wouldn’t stoop low as far as the pricing game is concerned. Infact by initiatives like the Mercedes Benz StarDrive experience, the company plans on bringing in the customers closer to the brand. Mercedes Benz are trying their best to regain the number one spot in India from arch German rival, BMW. All these efforts point to the same direction. As of now, for the month of January 2011, Mercedes are on top of the sales chart but then we will have to wait and watch what the coming months have in store for the German company.