The Hindu Business Line : Daimler Chrysler revises sales target upwards

DAIMLER Chrysler, which makes some of the costliest cars in the world, has revised the sales target upwards for India apart from lining up new launches this year.

The Daimler Chrysler head for corporate affairs and member of the board of management, Mr Suhas Kadlaskar, told Business Line that the company expects to sell 1,850 units during 2004 which is around 17 per cent more than the previous year.

It had earlier projected a 4 per cent increase in sales in 2004 compared with 2003.

Mr Kadlaskar said the first four months of the year, January-April, saw sales grow a whopping 40 per cent compared with the same period of the previous year.

He said there were several reasons for such high sales. "The feel good factor in the initial months and our updated model range have all contributed to the high growth," Mr Kadlaskar said. During the year, the SLK sportster and the CLK Coupe would be introduced. Daimler Chrysler is also planning to introduce trucks of over 40 tonnes as completely built units soon. He, however, said no decision has been taken on introducing buses in India. "We hope to launch them but not right away," he said.

Mr Kadlaskar said the company expects to post turnover of around Rs 500 crore during 2004 though profits could remain at around Rs 34 crore, the same level as that of the last year. In 2003, Daimler Chrysler's turnover was around Rs 434 crore. In 2003, Daimler Chrysler sold a total of 1581 cars.