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From sales of less than 20 cars in 2003, Mercedes-Benz India has come a long way to record sales of 15,538 units in 2018. The luxury brand now wants to focus more on tier-II and tier-III towns.
“The steep slide in passenger car sales has not impacted the luxury segment much, for the market itself is just around 1.2 per cent. We are cautiously optimistic going forward,” Sharath Vijayaraghavan, Executive Director, Sundaram Motors, told BusinessLine .
Sundaram Motors has been a partner with the iconic brand (Mercedes Benz) for close to two decades. Vijayaraghavan was in the city to celebrate 25 years of Merc in India.
Going by the brand motto ‘Best Never Rest’, Vijayaraghavan said, Sundaram Motors would continue the momentum by further focusing on customer services, experiential events and digitalisation .
Asserting that “service is the key” he said the company through a slew of unique memorable brand experiences, curated by Mercedes Benz, such as the Brand Tour, Service on Wheels, Service Clinics, LuxeDrive and AMG Emotional Tours is all set to mark a milestone by reaching retail sales of 50,000 units. Vijayaraghavan, however, didn’t indicate any time-line for achieving this goal.
Besides focusing on tier-II and tier-III towns, the company is also developing a secondary market for used cars. “The potential is huge; we are exploring and building this market,” he said
“If you don’t experience, you don’t expect. We are here to help you experience. And pre-owned cars come at a substantially lower price. The market is under-explored, but growing and will continue to grow. We also have new generation compact cars at substantially lower price and are in the process of developing this market,” he said.
Sundaram Motors- Mercedes Benz has a strong presence with a total of nine outlets in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.
Coimbatore and South India as a whole is a key region for us. The region contributes to one-third of our overall sales. Preference for SUVs and sedans is huge, contributing to nearly 40 per cent of our overall sales in the region. Politicians, businessmen, SMEs and doctors are increasingly opting for the Three-Pointed Star, Vijayaraghavan said.
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