JOIN USItalian luxury sports car brand Maserati has debuted in the country at a huge price tag of between Rs 1.2 and Rs 1.5 crore (ex-showroom Delhi). Doing one-up, British car-maker Bentley here recently unveiled its Continental GT luxury sedan with a price tag of Rs. 1.9 crore (ex-showroom, Delhi).
Both are high performance and custom-made cars. “India is growing fast in the luxury automobile space. We hope to achieve a sales figure of 100 units here from our entire range by next year,” Bentley Regional Director (India), Chris Buxton said.
Italian car maker to come out with 4-door Quattroporte sedan, its two-door GT Coupe GranTurismo cousin, and the GranTurismo’s topless version - the GranCabrio, and is looking at crossing the 100 Maseratis a year sales mark by 2014, said Simone Niccolai, Managing Director for Asia-Pacific at Maserati.
Based in Crewe, England, since 1946, Bentley expects to sell about 45 units in India this year. Globally, it is targeting to sell 7,000 units in 2011. All the same, Bentley's Buxton puts the guestimate of the Indian super luxury car market around 600-700 units this year and is growing at around 30 per cent every year. “Bentley's sales in India are growing at around 45 per cent every year,” he added.
Bentley’s new two-door offering ‘Continental GT’ is powered by a 12-cylinder engine and can reach a top speed of 318 km per hour. Bentleys are currently sold through through two dealerships in the country, one in New Delhi and another in Mumbai. The Italian luxury car maker has appointed the Shreyans Group as the exclusive dealer for Maserati cars and the first dealership will come up in Mumbai this year, followed by Delhi, while plans are to have seven such dealerships by 2015.