The Hindu Business Line : DiamlerChrysler bullish on domestic market

Focus on Tier-II
The company is now working towards a stronger growth this year not only from traditional metros and cities, but also tier II centres in the country.

Hyderabad , April 15

DaimlerChrysler is bullish on India with a slew of launches in the S and M-Class series and is at an advanced stage of evaluating the option of a commercial vehicle plant.

This could potentially be a completely built unit. But no decision has been taken as yet, the Managing Director and CEO of DaimlerChrysler India, Dr Wilfried Aulber, said.

The company is buoyed by sales in India in 2005 and is now working towards a stronger growth this year not just from traditional metros and cities, but also tier II centres such as Coimbatore, Madurai, Mysore, Vizag and Vijayawada.

The C and S-Class have been a hit with young, successful professionals particularly in the IT sector, followed by entrepreneurs. About 25 per cent of the sales come from Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.

M and S-Class

Speaking to newspersons here at Mercedes-Benz Brand Showcase held at Hitex Exposition where the company announced the launch of a new M and S-Class range, Dr Aulber said these vehicles got a lot more powerful. While the M-Class launched in 1997 has become 150 mm longer and 70 mm wider and its engine has become 38 per cent more powerful, the S-Class with V-6 engine has added about 11 per cent power.

Its SUV (sports utility vehicle) M-Class, despite its huge size, returns about 100 km for 9 litres of gasoline.

Debutante featured

The brand show featured the debutante S-Class, the E-Class and the ever popular C-Class, as well as the completely built imported range of the SLK-Class, CLS-Class and the M-Class, and the Maybach, which bears on the road a price tag of about Rs 6 crore. The company sold six of them in India.

Asked whether the company was evaluating the option of bringing in A-Class into India, Dr Aulber said currently the company does not have any plans to bring it into the country. The show aims to get closer to customers with latest Mercs. This launch is parallel to the US market and demonstrates the seriousness about the India market.

It would not be fair to compare the global market with the current sales in India. Within five years, the Indian market would almost be the size of that of China.