JOIN USGerman luxury carmaker Mercedes-Benz is embarking on network expansion in India, where it wants to add 15 dealers by the end of this fiscal and wants to reach tier-II cities across the country, a top company official said on Wednesday.
Mercedes-Benz India Managing Director and chief executive Eberhard Kern said, “As part of our strategic ‘15 in 15’ approach, we are increasing our sales network in the country. This week, we have added two new showrooms in South India to take our total network strength to 73 outlets across 39 cities.”
The company is looking at increasing the reach to 50 cities from the present 39. Another 10-15 outlets will be opened in the country, including in some tier-II cities in the next three years, Kern added.
“We have recently doubled our plant capacity to 20,000 units and are future-ready. We will grab a sizeable market of the growing luxury car market in the coming years,” Kern said.
Two outlets were inaugurated in two days in South India, in Bengaluru and Thiruvananthapuram. Kern was in the city to inaugurate the new showroom, Akshaya Motors, located at Koramangala.
On the domestic luxury market, Kern said it was 33,000 units or 1.3 per cent of the total market last year. He expects this to touch 40,000 units this year, given the momentum.
When asked whether the company will increase localisation further, Kern said: “Having higher than 60 per cent local sourcing of parts means you go into full-fledged production, and not assembling. To begin full-fledged production, you need to sell at least 70,000 to 1,00,000 units of sales for a model, which looks distant in the near future.”
Mercedes-Benz toppled its larger rival Audi in the first quarter of the calendar year with a massive 40 per cent spike in sales at 3,566, while in 2014 it sold over 10,200 units.