Luxury car maker Mercedes-Benz will increase the price of its vehicles across all segments by 1.5 per cent in September due to exchange rate fluctuations. It will be the third increase in this calendar year after the first in January (1.5 per cent) and in June by another 1.5 per cent, Santosh Iyer, Managing Director & CEO, Mercedes-Benz India, said.

On January 1, the Euro-INR exchange rate was at ₹88.59 and today it is ₹99.69, a 12 per cent increase. “We did not anticipate such a drastic change. We cannot take on the additional burden, and it will be passed on to customers in a phased manner,” he said.

Forex fluctuation

Iyer said that the company, which manufactures vehicles at its Pune factory, has around 30 per cent localisation. The forex fluctuation has made import of parts expensive. Recently, the company also started procuring glass from Saint Gobain near Chennai. “We keep looking at options of increasing localisation,” he said. In CY2024, the company manufactured 19,565 cars, he said.

Iyer was in Chennai on Monday at the launch of Sundaram Motors’ Atelier Experience and the updated EQS 580 4MATIC ‘Celebration Edition’ - the top end BEV. The 3,800 sq ft facility offers flexibility to showcase sub-brands including Maybach, AMG, G-Class and Mercedes-Benz at a single location.

After the launch of the exclusive Maybach Lounge in Hyderabad, the G-Lounge in Delhi, the Atelier Experience is being launched in Mumbai and Chennai. Customers can configure cars with the ‘Manufaktur’ range of customisation options, he said.

Hyper personalisation

Hyper personalisation is an emerging trend at the top-end of the luxury segment with exclusive Maybach Kit and G-Class Kit comprising physical material samples. This combined with online configurator, customers can have a physi-digital experience while configuring their personalised top-end Mercedes-Benz car, he said.

Mercedes-Benz is also pursuing a ‘go to customer’ strategy by debuting in new markets and new emerging mini-metros.

“We plan to inaugurate 30 new or upgraded luxury touchpoints in the calendar year 2025, with 19 of them in the next five months,” he added.

Regarding EV sales, Iyer said that combustion engine models have a 48 per cent GST and 20 per cent road tax. However, for EV, the GST is 5 per cent and some states have fully exempted the road tax while some have given 50 per cent waiver. Many customers are seeing benefits of buying EV, he said.

Published on June 16, 2025