The Hindu Business Line : Maybach deliveries may begin from Sept

Mr Suhas Kadlaskar (right), Director-Corporate Affairs and Finance, DaimlerChrysler India, and Mr R. Rajendran, General Manager-Cars, Sundaram Motors, with the bio-diesel powered Mercedes-Benz `C' Class car in Bangalore on Thursday. - G.R.N. Somashekar

Bangalore , April 8

ONE of the world's costliest cars, the Rs 5-crore Maybach will go in for homologation (testing for road-worthiness) next week with deliveries expected to start in September.

``We don't expect any problems during homologation as we are geared up for it,'' Mr Suhas Kadlaskar, the DaimlerChrysler Director for Corporate Affairs and Finance, told Business Line.

He said Maybach has received a large number of enquiries since its launch during the AutoExpo in January this year. However, DaimlerChrysler does not expect to sell more than 10 units of Maybach in the country.

Mr Kadlaskar said once a firm order is received, the customer would be flown to its production headquarters in Sindelfingen in Germany to give his specifications as each Maybach is customised according to his needs. The customers can pick and choose over 2 million ways of equipping the luxury car.

Mr Kadlaskar said during the first quarter of the calendar year, DaimlerChrysler sold 534 cars compared with 385 cars during the same time last year. During 2003, it sold 1,581 cars, nearly 30 per cent more than in 2002. It expects to sell over 1,850 cars during 2004. He said the C Class continues to be its best selling model. In 2003, DaimlerChrysler sold around 700 of these cars compared with 500 units in 2002. Its second best selling car was the E Class which sold 650 cars.

He admitted that increase in sales was partially because of price reduction. In the CBU category, the company sold around 100 cars during 2003, and it plans to sell the same number of cars this year also.

DaimlerChrysler's profits during 2003, however, dipped 11 per cent to around Rs 34 crore because of the appreciation of the rupee. Because of the appreciation of the euro against the rupee, the company had to fork out nearly 34 per cent more on raw material price.

During 2003, DaimlerChrysler's turnover was around Rs 434 crore which is projected to increase to around Rs 500 crore during 2004.

Mr Kadlaskar said the company has invested around Rs 3 crore towards the test trial of bio-diesel fuel on Mercedes Benz C Class.

DaimlerChrysler initiated this project in August 2003 in association with the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research and the University of Hohenheim in Germany.

The test phase involves running the Mercedes Benz C class car on bio-diesel for over 5,000 km. Bio-diesel is derived from Jatropha seeds which grows on degraded soils and is highly pest and disease resistant.