Mercedes-Benz India plans a blitzkrieg of new models in the next 2 years. The company which introduced the luxury cars in India is now battling to hold onto its top position. With rivals launching new and lower cost models Mercedes-Benz too plans to bring its next generation of small cars to lure the premium customers.
The company unveiled the all new B-Class in the Indian market at the Buddh International circuit. The B-Class is positioned as a sports Tourer in India and will be least price model offered by Mercedes-Benz in India. The new B-Class will be launched officially in September.
Mercedes-Benz is not going behind the number game and wants to be a niche brand.
Mercedes Benz will invest around Rs 400 crore in the Indian plant to augment assembly line capacity by three-four times.
The company plans to launch atleast 6 new products which in the next 2 years. Apart from new products, Mercedes-Benz also plans new variants of existing models.
The first will be the B-Class followed by the all new A-Class in the first quarter of 2013. CLA and GLA based on the A-Class platform will also make entry in India. The CLA sedan and the GLA SUV is based on the Mercedes Front-wheel Architecture platform. The GLA SUV will be directly pitted against the BMW X1 and Audi Q3.
Mercedes-Benz plans to ramp up assembly capacity from 10,000 units per annum to 25,000-30,000 per annum by 2014-15. The company currently assembles C, E and S Class vehicles in India.
The new S-Class and the facelifted E-Class will also make its entry in 2013. Mercedes is also working on the right hand drive version of the GLK SUV which may be launched in 2014-15.
