Despite challenging market conditions for the luxury car market in India in 2018, leading brands such as Mercedes-Benz, BMW and Jaguar Land Rover have reported a positive growth for the calendar year.
German luxury car maker Mercedes-Benz posted a marginal increase in its volumes for 2018 and has also retained its number one position in the Indian luxury car market for the fourth consecutive year.
Increase in sales
Mercedes-Benz India sold 15,538 units, its highest ever annuals sales in India, for 2018, when compared with 15,330 units in 2017, recording an increase of 1.4 per cent.
“We are satisfied with our sales performance in 2018 despite facing strong macro-economic headwinds in H2, resulting in low consumer sentiment that posed significant sales challenges. We, however, made a strong comeback in the Q4 period and were able to achieve a year-on-year growth,” said Martin Schwenk, Managing Director & CEO,Mercedes-Benz India, who took charge in July 2018.
Customer service
He stated that the company’s product offensive strategy combined with customer service and financial programmes helped in winning over more customers to the brand than ever before.
The year 2019 will mark 25 years of operations of the Three Pointed Star in India.
Another luxury car-maker, Jaguar Land Rover (JLR)-India registered an increase of 16 per cent in its annual sales at 4,596 units for 2018 when compared with 3,954 units in 2017, driven by models like the Land Rover Discovery Sport, Range Rover Evoque, Jaguar F-PACE, XE and XF with over half of all sales in 2018 being driven by SUVs.
“The auto industry faced strong headwinds in 2018, especially in the second half with tight liquidity conditions, increased upfront insurance costs and increased lending rates,” said Rohit Suri, President & Managing Director, Jaguar Land Rover India.
BMW had reported 13 per cent increase in its annual sales at 11,105 units (including both BMW and Mini brands) for 2018.