Mercedes-Benz, the German luxury car manufacturer, has recorded great success with its Performance Drive program, which is dedicated at honing one’s driving skills. It seems that high performance motoring is become increasingly popular across India through various mediums. Apart from Mercedes-Benz, auto makers such as Maruti Suzuki and Volkswagen have their racing calendar planned out for the current year.
Through the Performance Drive, Mercedes-Benz India aims to engage users and determine their driving skills with the help of six events, which include Young Star Driver Program, Star Off-Road Experience, Track Day Experience, International Driving experiences, Star Drive experience and AMG Driving Academy. In these events, participants are given a chance to test Track their skills in the German auto maker's vehicles. A lot of positive responses have been received through this program, which has been active since two months now. Under this series of events, one of them is the Young Star Driver's Programme. This gives participants hope of becoming a Formula One driver in the future, due to which it seems high popular, having already garnered 1665 registrations. Through nationwide screening, 50 drivers would be short listed, out of which 12 drivers are to be sent for advanced training in Germany and then for masters AMG GT3 training.
Another program which is to be launched on April 15, 2013, is the AMG Driving Academy- Advanced Course. This program has also received an encouraging response and registrations have already been closed. This advanced course has been priced at Rs. 1,00,000. The event known as StarDrive experience allows participants to test the capabilities of Mercedes-Benz made cars and Sports Utility Vehicles (SUVs) on specially designed courses, where expert guidance would also be available. 8000 participants are anticipated to get a taste of this experience in 2013. Up to April 12, 2013, registrations for Nashik StarDrive Experience are open.
In addition to participants who have already registered, there are also 5000 waitlisted participants who seek to get more details about the final status of bookings. For the purpose of the whole Performance Drive, the website www.mercedesbenzperformancedrive.in has been created. Commenting on the responses to the new initiative for promoting the spirit of motoring, Eberhard Kern, Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer (CEO) for Mercedes-Benz India said, “Mercedes-Benz Performance Drive is the most comprehensive driving programme in India. The overwhelming response is a clear indication of the fascination of the Three Pointed Star among the young Indian achievers and points towards the fact that the culture of performance driving is coming of age in India.” The German car manufacturer attempts to get many individuals involved into this program, such that a passion for motoring is created in the country.
