The year 2013 has been great for German car maker Mercedes-Benz as far as the Indian market is concerned. According to a report in Motoroids, the luxury car maker recently highlighted its major achievements in 2013. Officials have pointed out that the auto company is putting in a lot of hard work to claim a really strong position in the Indian market.
The current year, quite aptly, was termed as the ‘Year of Offensive’ by the Daimler-owned entity. The luxury car maker vowed to put more focus on its products line, dealership network, ownership cost and brand values. With regards to vehicles, the auto company has launched eight new models, across different segments, in 2013. The name of these vehicles are G 63 AMG, GL-Class, A-Class, B-Class, E-Class, E 63 AMG, Edition C-Class and SLK 55 AMG.
Besides introducing new products, the luxury car company laid emphasis on its network expansion in the country to improve its reach to customers and vice-versa. The company made significant progress to add nine new touch points in New Delhi, Baroda, Coimbatore, Noida, Gurgaon, Rajkot, New Mumbai, Lucknow and Pune. At present, the company has a total of 58 outlets that are spread across 32 cities in the country. Now, the manufacturer has maximum number of touch points in the luxury segment, an indicator of its strategy. Mercedes-Benz also went ahead to inaugurate its largest luxury car showroom in India, which is located in New Delhi.
To enhanced customer experience, the auto company had introduced iPad based applications like iSales, first in India in the auto sector. The company introduced ‘My Mercedes’ program to further enhance customer experience. This program is also aimed to reduce the cost of ownership for customers. It covers initiatives like National Remote Diagnostic Centre, 24-hour On-Road Assistance and Mercedes-Benz Online Service Booking. All these developments remarkably improve the overall ownership experience of customers. Various service packages are now being offered by the company, which are customer centric. Few of these service packages are Star Care, Star Care+ and Star Ease.
The company is offering competitive extended warranty programmes to enhance customer experience. Under the Star Care programme, people get a repair warranty of up to 3 years without any mileage limitations. This ensures a rise in overall customer satisfaction index and also gets a higher resale value. Road Side Assistance (RSA) comes as a standard offering for three years. Customers can purchase these packages individually for 4th and 5th year too, if required. Interestingly, Mercedes-Benz is the only luxury car maker that offers such Road Side Assistance (RSA) Packages.
The company's financial wing offers ‘Flexinomics’ in order to provide custom made financial solutions to its buyers. ‘STAR Supersonic’ allows buyers to avail fast loan approval in just 30 minutes. 'STAR Agility' is yet another offering from Mercedes-Benz Financial Services that is geared toward customers.
Mercedes-Benz had a great 2013 when it came to redefining its brand image. It managed to bag number of awards that state the authenticity of its product offerings. Names of few accolades are 'The most exciting brand' in India by Brand Equity AC Neilson survey, 'Most admired brand' by Fortune magazine and 'Most preferred Luxury automobile' of key Decision makers – by Bloomberg – A.C.Neilson.
The luxury car maker also inaugurated its state-of-the-art ‘Centre of Excellence’ located within its production facility in Pune. Matthias Lührs, Chairman of the Board of Management, Mercedes-Benz India, reportedly said, “We are delighted to inaugurate the ‘Centre of Excellence’ in India. This one of its kind experience for our customers will ensure they live our complete brand experience and are able to personalize our speciality cars with their tastes and preferences.”
