Luxury car-maker Mercedes Benz has made an entry into a still untapped compact luxury car segment in the country with the launch of the hatchback A-Class today.
“The compact luxury segment did not exist so far in India,” Eberhard Kern, Managing Director and CEO, Mercedes Benz India said. There was a clear trend towards ‘compact’ across categories of goods in other countries, and India seemed to be seeing a similar development, he said, adding that the new car will bring in younger buyers into the MBI fold.
The A-Class was launched globally in September 2012, and has seen 90,000 bookings in the first three months. In India, where both 1.6 litre petrol and 2.2 litre diesel variants are being offered, it will initially be brought in as a CBU from Germany.
Priced at introductory prices of Rs 22,73,500 and Rs 21,93,500 respectively (ex-showroom, Mumbai), the A-Class and the (recently launched) B-Class, will be volume drivers for the company, Kern said.
“By 2020, we expect 40 per cent of our total sales in India to come from the A, B, CLA and GLA cars,” he said.
Though the company is investing Rs 250 crore at its plant in Chakan to double existing capacity to 20,000 units annually by early 2014, the decision on whether, and when, to begin assembling the A or B Class cars in India is to be taken next year.
“We are (currently) selling 50-60 units per month of the petrol B-Class, and the diesel variant will come in a few weeks,” Kern said adding that assembly of the GL-Class from Semi Knocked Down units will begin in August.
The newly launched A-Class car embodies a new design language the key aspects being the V-shaped front and the radiator grille with 302 diamond resembling pins.
The features include a 7-gear dual clutch transmission, 11 drive assistance systems and seven air bags.