The Hindu Business Line : Daimler may launch new cars soon

Mr Hans-Michael Huber, CEO and Managing Director, DaimlerChrysler India, at the launch of Mercedes-Benz C-Class range in Bangalore on Saturday. — G.R.N. Somashekar

Bangalore , Aug. 7

LUXURY car maker DaimlerChrysler has finally found buyers for its Rs 5-crore Maybach with the first delivery expected to take place later this year. It also plans to launch in India some of the cars out of the nine to be launched this year globally.

The Daimler Managing Director and Chief Executive officer, Mr Hans-Michael Huber, told Business Line that the German parent of the company was taken by surprise with the response to the Maybach in India. "We were certainly surprised, especially the headquarters in Germany," Mr Huber said. The first delivery will happen later this year. "We have firm orders. More deliveries will happen during the next year," he said. He did not disclose how many orders have been received.

Mr Huber had earlier said Daimler does not expect more than 10 Maybachs to be sold in one year. Globally, the company is finding it difficult to keep up to its earlier forecast that around 1,000 Maybachs would be sold in a single year. Mr Huber said this was largely because most of the customers had sought more features in their models leading to delay in deliveries. "We may sell between 700 and 800 Maybachs in the year now," he said.

Mr Huber said most of the new models will be through the CBU route. Daimler recently announced that globally it plans to launch nine new cars this year, the highest in its history, in an attempt to boost sales after a slowdown in sales early this year.

"Definitely we will introduce some of them in India but initially as a CBU," Mr Huber said. He, however, did not say when the Cherokee and the Grand Cherokee would be launched in India. "We don't know yet. But we would take a decision by September." Apart from the S class, the C class and E class, there will not be any new additions. Any new products will be in the form of CBUs.

The company has set a target of selling 1,800 cars during 2004 and may introduce a mini-bus, the 8-seater Ueano soon. DaimlerChrysler India last year sold 1,580 Mercedes-Benz cars in India.

"During the year, the company also hopes to achieve a 15 per cent increase in the revenues to Rs 500 crore," Mr Huber said after unveiling the upgraded C-class version of Mercedes-Benz. The luxury car segment in India was slated to grow at a rate of about 20 per cent this year. "The sales are mainly driven by E and C class. During the last three years growth in volumes were good," he said.

He said the costlier E class is expected to sell around 800 units while the C class could sell slightly less than 800 units. "There is a waiting list for E class now," he said.

Mr Huber said India was emerging as a major hub of sourcing components but there was tough competition from China, South America and other Eastern European nations. "It is going to be challenging for India and also satisfying," he said.

He said exports of automobile software and components from India will go up to Euro 100 million in three years.

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