Nearly one-third of all cars Mercedes Benz India expects to sell during the current year will be from its four-model-strong compact range, or as the company calls it, its portfolio of New Generation Cars (NGC).
The projection is based on the fact that the CLA-Class compact sedan launched early this year has boosted its January sales numbers by 25 per cent compared to those in the same month of 2014.
Last year around 20 per cent of the 10,200 units the car-maker sold came from three NGCs… the A-Class, B-Class hatchbacks and the GLA-Class SUV.
“The contribution of both the CLA and the GLA has exceeded our expectations. We expect our NGC volumes to grow by 50 per cent in 2015 and both these will be playing a major role in this growth,” Eberhard Kern MD & CEO said. The CLA currently has a waiting period of 30-45 days, he added.
The German luxury brand has been rather slow to hop onto the compact car bandwagon, and its volumes in the Indian market took a beating as its main competitors like BMW and Audi already had a small-luxury-car strategy in place.
In addition to helping beef up numbers, introduction of the NGCs are apparently also helping the company shed the tag of having a predominantly grey-haired customer base.
“The average age of Mercedes-Benz customer has dropped from earlier 40+years, to 35 years, now,” the company said.