By T Murrali  

Crossing very significant milestones and achieving stellar sales performance made 2019 very special for Mercedes-Benz in India. The German car maker celebrated 25 years of operations of its local entity Mercedes-Benz India that began with a local assembly facility based at the Tata Motors (then TELCO) premises, and the tenth anniversary of the independent Mercedes-Benz plant in Pune.

The year was also record-making for the company in defying the slowdown and selling more than 600 cars within a week during the festive season of 2019 bucking the automotive slowdown in the country since September 2018. This was over and above its outstanding sales performance a month ago when it delivered more than 200 cars in Maharashtra, especially in Mumbai, and Gujarat. It has also sold off the current GLE models about three months ahead of plan and has opened bookings for the upcoming new generation GLE scheduled to be launched before the Auto Expo 2020.

Mercedes-Benz India sold more than 10,500 units till October 2019. The year 2018 was the best ever as it sold 15,538 units with 1.4 percent growth over the previous year. It was the second year in a row that the company crossed sales of 15,000 units. In 2019 the company recorded its highest ever Q4 selling 3,871 units, thus registering a 3.3 percent y-o-y growth for Q4, and was able to achieve sales growth in a challenging market. Amidst strong macro-economic headwinds, Mercedes-Benz India sales volumes in Q4 also grew by 15.41 percent from Q3 2019 and the overall sales volume remained at 13,786 units from January-December 2019.

With its slogan ‘Best Never Rest’ the company carries forward the rich learning and experiences of the past 25 years to embark on a new journey towards reinventing itself for the future. As the inventors of automobile globally, Mercedes-Benz is highly confident of leading the luxury automotive industry which it pioneered in India, by not resting on past laurels and accolades but by striving to achieve excellence in the future.

The company’s factory in Pune makes nine different models including the sedans of the C-Class, E-Class, S-Class and CLA Coupé as well as Maybach S-Class and the SUVs GLA, GLC, GLE and GLS. The plant in India has been one of the first local assemblies of Mercedes-Benz to implement Virtual Reality technology, starting with the body shop training. As the implementation of Virtual Reality in the training process of the Indian plant has been a huge success, it is being implemented in other Mercedes-Benz assemblies around the world.

The Managing Director and CEO of Mercedes-Benz India, Martin Schwenk, is very upbeat about the future course of the company. When told that he is the only car company CEO in India to have roaring sales, he told this publication that the festive season had been satisfactory for the company as it saw overwhelming response to its products from across markets. This has made him even more confident. He said his company’s plans would be well implemented, especially to launch new products; it was obvious that he was being both practical and optimistic.

During a recent interaction Schwenk said that the company works with its dealers to see how it can increase their profitability by looking into their inventory and stock levels, using its product offerings and ‘wish-box’ initiatives to raise the numbers. But about the order book position he said that “it is business as usual.”

On Growth Track

From the overall sentiment among customers and the availability of finance in the market Schwenk expects the industry to grow again. “I can see, when I follow numbers, that everyone is carefully and prudently managing the situation. Inventory management is taking up a big portion of every OEM’s activity. The BS-IV to BS-VI change will create some kind of distortion. Bigger the distortion, bigger will be the inventories at that point in time. Retail numbers being higher than wholesale makes me believe that the market is getting more receptive now. If there is good awareness among all, we can move forward as an industry. Turbulence will be there but it should not be a major irritation. From the second half of 2020 this transition period will be over and we would probably see a normal growth scenario. Until then the market might behave in a way that is hard to assess depending on inventory levels, pricing, discounting and whatever is necessary. I would expect some distortion where we won’t be able to easily ascertain the natural growth momentum. But with the efforts taken by Government and industry we could expect things coming back to normal soon.”

On the transition to BS-VI he said, “Our change from BS-IV to VI usually goes with new models. We have a strategy which is basically built on major model upgrades and new models. That’s why our transition started with the S-class (last year) where we had a new model with all the technology and features in it. For our brand I don’t expect any pre-or-post-buy triggered by BS replacement.”

The V-class Elite was launched in 90 countries. In India the company registered three-digit sales of its V-class and he is happy with the growing demand though the volumes are very low. “Every time we start something fresh we are keen to ensure it gets adequate returns. We try to upgrade based on what the customers tell us. The V-class does give an element of luxury; you will feel the difference when you sit in it. We are happy that we were able to open a segment where nobody had been before.”

The fact that the V-class is in 90 countries shows that it has developed well. This model, unlike its predecessors, is very much a passenger car, almost like an SUV. This has boosted sales in many markets. The global company has seen substantially higher numbers than expected, in most of the markets, he said.

The model launched in India is the same as the model Mercedes-Benz sells in other markets. It is totally imported but it is configured according to what a particular market needs and the prospective customer demand. “We have used all the feedback generated to create an offering that fits very well in the market here. The pricing of the upper-end V-class range goes up from INR 68 lakh to INR 1.1 crore. That is a wide span where you have the V-class for many different purposes in that series.”

Schwenk said the economic slowdown has definitely impacted his company with the entire industry slowing down by at least 20 percent. “We don’t have full transparency as not many manufacturers are disclosing their numbers. It’s not always easy for us to estimate what the market is doing but we believe the luxury market is down by 15 to 20 percent. However, we have maintained our market share of 40 percent in the luxury segment.”

On the customer preference for diesel vis-a-vis petrol, he said it has not triggered too much of a question. “What the customers expect is that we give them the latest technology in any engine and meet the highest standards available. Customers are not too concerned about whether we go for BS-IV or BS-VI. They are more bothered about the features in the car, the styling, design and, of course, the price. In the smaller segment we do get questions on the type of engine used, petrol or diesel. Our diesel share is unchanged in the larger SUVs and bigger sedans. Our diesel engines are highly efficient; they not only follow BS-VI norms but also are 20 percent more fuel efficient and better in CO2 emissions. If you look at the whole mix, diesel does come out as a clean fuel with the introduction of BS-VI.”

However, not all models are uniform in giving fuel efficiency; it varies from model to model. In the E-Class vehicles, engine fuel efficiency in diesel would be more by 15-20 percent. It meets all the BS-VI norms; NOX and carbon emissions are much reduced. It is very competitive with the petrol engine.

Electric Vehicles

About electric vehicle (EV) he said, “We would also develop EVs; we have already made slow entries into the market but I think we are still in the early phase of seeing what the right set-up is for the electric. From a framework and infrastructure perspective there is still some work to be done while from the customer demand angle it is not really hot. But the electric trend will certainly grow.”

“Our company has quite a few cars lined up at the global level; by 2022 we will have 10 pure electric vehicles worldwide. We would also have plug-in hybrids that we consider specifically for countries like India with about 20 models coming within the next two years. Electric will definitely have its space though we have not introduced any model in India. Based on our global portfolio and how the market develops here we would take a call on this. We are not in a rush because there should be the right momentum to get it on the road. Considering our overall strategy for 2019 we have decided to begin with connectivity as Indians are very much into their mobile devices. That’s why ‘Mercedes Me Connect’ was launched, which connects not only the new cars but also cars that go back to 2007,” Schwenk said. (MT)

Mumbai-based automotive major Mahindra & Mahindra has announced its wholesales for April 2025 at 84,170 vehicles, a growth of 19 percent, including exports.

The auto major sold a total of 52,330 SUVs in the domestic market, which was 28 percent higher than 41,008 SUVs sold for the same period last year. Commercial vehicle sales in the domestic market came at 22,989 units, which was 4 percent YoY. 

Veejay Nakra, President, Automotive Division, Mahindra & Mahindra, said, “Building on the strong momentum of last year's performance, we began the year on a strong note in April by achieving SUV sales of 52,330 units, a growth of 28 percent and total vehicle sales of 84,170 units, a 19 percent growth over the same month last year. These numbers indicate the strength of our portfolio and customer offerings.”

JSW MG Motor India, a leading passenger vehicles manufacturer, has announced its wholesales for April 2025.

The company reported sales of 5,829 units, which was 23 percent higher over April 2024, when it sold 4,725 vehicles.

Interestingly, the automaker's popular offering, the Windsor EV, has continued to be the top-selling electric passenger vehicle for the seventh month in a row.

JSW MG Motor India's Windsor EV has now gone home to over 20,000 customers.

Maruti Suzuki India, the country’s largest carmaker, has reported its wholesales of 179,791 units in April 2025, marking a 7 percent increase compared to 168,089 units sold in April 2024. The growth was primarily propelled by strong performance in utility vehicles and a sharp rise in export volumes.

Domestic sales, including passenger and light commercial vehicles, remained flat with 142,053 units, as compared to 140,448 units in April 2024. Within this, light commercial vehicles (LCVs) like the Super Carry saw a significant jump of 34.2 percent, with sales rising to 3,349 units from 2,496 units last year.

In the passenger vehicle segment, SUVs such as the Brezza, Ertiga, Grand Vitara and others recorded a 4.4 percent increase, selling 59,022 units compared to 56,553 in the previous year. However, sales for Eeco declined by 5.2 percent, while the mini segment (Alto, S-Presso) saw a sharp 45 percent drop, falling to 6,332 units from 11,519 units. The compact segment, which includes high-volume models like the Baleno and Swift, grew by 8.1 percent, reaching 61,591 units.

Sales to Toyota Kirloskar Motor rose sharply by 79.2 percent, from 5,481 units to 9,827 units, indicating a growing demand for cross-badged products.

The standout performer was the export segment, which surged 26 percent to 27,911 units from 22,160 units in April 2024. This strong export growth helped bolster the company’s overall numbers despite weaknesses in domestic sub-segments.

While some product lines such as the mid-size sedan Ciaz (-63 percent) continue to struggle.

Tata Motors reported total wholesales of 72,753 units for April 2025, reflecting a 6 percent year-on-year decline from 77,521 units in April 2024.

The passenger vehicle (PV) segment, including electric vehicles, accounted for 45,532 units, down 5 percent from 47,983 units in the same month last year. Within this, domestic PV sales dropped 6 percent to 45,199 units, while international business (IB) sales rose significantly to 333 units, up from 100 units. Electric vehicle sales (domestic + IB) declined 16 percent year-on-year to 5,318 units.

Commercial vehicle (CV) sales stood at 27,221 units, marking an 8 percent YoY drop from 29,538 units in April 2024. Domestic CV sales contracted 10 percent to 25,764 units, while CV exports (IB) grew 43 percent to 1,457 units. Key sub-segments like Small Commercial Vehicles (SCV) and pickups saw a steep 23 percent decline.

Despite growth in certain categories like ILMCV trucks and passenger carriers, overall sales momentum was tempered across both PV and CV segments.