Till now Indian roads very laden with Mercedes Benz and a few other luxury models owned specifically in certain cities of India. The luxury segment is set to witness new models in coming few years.
The appreciating rupee, rising inflation and soaring steel prices cannot keep a check on the increasing demand for new models in India. The luxury car segment had already witnessed 50% growth last year with a sale of 4500 cars. This year the projects sales are 6000-7000 cars with new models available for the luxury car buyers. This target is shared majorly by Mercedes Benz with its target of 3000 cars and BMW that expects to sell 2000 units. The balance is left for other players in the same segment.
Nearly all players including Audi, BMW, Mercedes, Volvo etc. have already started opening up new dealerships in India. Pune earlier has 50 Audis in the city but after the opening up of a dealership the number has risen drastically to another 25-30 cars in the city. This Pune dealer is expected to cater to a demand of at least 250 Audis annually in the Maharashtra region excluding Mumbai.
BMW also has the same story. It has already revised its target to 2000 units for the year 2008 and has increased its capacity at its Chennai plant in view of growing demand. It has also seen a surge in sales after opening a dealership in Pune.
Mercedes Benz, which has been assembling cars for 13 years now, has also revised its sales target for ’08 to 3000 units excluding CBUs.
