Mercedes-Benz has reduced prices for its M-Class luxury SUV by 15 per cent, with the launch of the new model on Tuesday. This has been done to meet the increased competition from rivals Audi and BMW.
Available as a single diesel variant, the ML-350 CDI is now available for Rs 66 lakh (in Delhi). In a month, after the German luxury carmaker starts domestic assembly of the SUV, prices will further drop to Rs 57 lakh. The ML-350 was previously priced at Rs 68 lakh.
“We decided to launch the model at a slightly higher price before we could start local assembly, since there were about 100 pending bookings. These customers are comfortable with paying the higher difference amount,” a company official said.
The new M-Class sports a 7-speed automatic transmission and a diesel V6 putting out 258 HP. With 1,500 units already sold in India, the M-Class competes with the BMW X5, Audi Q5 and the Land Rover Discovery.
Promise fulfilled
Mr Peter Honegg, MD and CEO, Mercedes-Benz India said, “At the start of this year we had promised to introduce exciting new models into the market. The New M-Class is built to perform with the highest precision and follows the Mercedes-Benz new design language.”
Larger and wider than the outgoing model, the new M-Class boasts premium features such as active parking assist, air suspension, 20 inches sporty AMG body styling and alloy wheels and leather interiors. It also has a start-stop system for fuel-savings, rear camera, anti-lock brakes and electronic stability control system.
The M-Class will be locally assembled at a new production similar to Mercedes' plant at Chakan, near Pune. This is expected to be followed by the launch of the new B-Class large hatch and the A-Class compact, both of which will also be made in India.