• Investment World
• eWorld
• Brand Line
• Mentor
• Life
• Canvas
• Praxis
• Urban Pulse
• Brand Quest
• The New Manager

Stocks

• Quotes
• SE Diary
• Scoreboard
• Open-End Mutual Fund

Cross Currency

• Rates
  
  

Shipping

• Ports
  
  

Archives

• Yesterday
• Datewise
• Resources
• In Focus
• In Depth

Group Sites

• The Hindu
• The Hindu ePaper
• Business Line
• Business Line ePaper
• Sportstar
• Frontline
• The Hindu eBooks
• The Hindu Images

Mayur N. Shah

The company clocked sales of 2,000-plus units in calendar year 2006.

Mumbai June 9 DaimlerChrysler India's vehicle sales have not been impacted by interest rate hikes in the domestic car market. "It has not affected us; in 2007, so far the company is growing at 20 per cent growth over the preceding year," said Dr Wilfried Aulbur, Managing Director and CEO.

He further added that the sales growth in 2006 had been 11 per cent compared to 2005, so, "so far, things are fine and it is currently a good year for us." The company clocked sales of 2,000-plus units in calendar year 2006.

One of the primary reasons for no impact in sales is customer behaviour in the luxury segment.

Customers are quite resilient and such market trends, experts said, did not primarily determine their purchasing decision.

Dr Aulbur said, "it's a little difficult to predict where we will be against our GDP growth - are we going to be at 8 or 9 per cent growth; however, I don't see a dramatic slowdown and personally see this market trend as a blip, nothing more."

Delivery challenge

Globally, DaimlerChrysler is facing a challenge to deliver cars and commercial vehicles at the quickest time possible, said Dr Aulbur.

With the recent introduction of the CL super luxury coupe, the company's CBU (completely built unit) portfolio has further expanded. As of now, there is a waiting period of three-six months for any CBU product.

Being an early entrant, the company has enjoyed a lead in this niche segment though with new entrants such as Audi, BMW and even Porsche, this trend is likely to change in the near future, said the experts.

More Stories on : Performance | Interest Rates | Cars

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page

Stories in this Section
Correction

Copyright © 2007, The Hindu Business Line. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu Business Line