German luxury carmaker Mercedes-Benz today said it expects a strong double-digit growth in the current year. "In 2015 we are ahead and we are quite confident that we stay here....we expect a very strong double-digit growth...," Mercedes-Benz India MD and CEO Eberhard Kern told reporters. He said "We had excellent business in the first quarter, we were growing at 40 per cent from 2,500 to 3,500 units. We are clearly leading the luxury car market," "...Q2 is not done yet, but the performance of the quarter two will show even a higher growth than the previous one...." he added.
Kern also said the luxury car market in India which was 33,000-units in 2014 is expected to touch 40,000 units this year. The company today inaugurated its third showroom in Bengaluru. The company's network presence is spread across 73 outlets in 39 cities. Stating that aspects like strong customer focus, effective product portfolio and service are helping towards growth, Kern said, "We have this year 15 new products, in India six are launched already, nine more to come." "....in the next six-and-half months you will see all the rest nine products being rolled out," he added.
Mercedes-Benz has recently commissioned the third assembly line at Chakan near Pune, taking its installed capacity to 20,000 units a year from 10,000 units, with a cumulative investment of Rs 1,000 crore. "With this, we are now absolutely future ready, we do not utilize this capacity as completely at present, but we are ready and we are there whenever the demand is coming...." Kern said. Speaking on the company's pre-owned car brand, he said it is seeing growth in the segment and the trading rates are rapidly going up for this. "....the portfolio is getting bigger in pre-owned too, and given the fact that there is already more than 70,000 Mercedes cars running in India....we see a demand for pre-owned cars..." he said.
