Mercedes dethrones Audi as India's top luxury carmaker in Jan-March quarter

Six years after losing the number one position to rival BMW as India’s top luxury carmaker, Germany’s Mercedes-Benz has regained the top crown by dethroning Audi in the January March period of 2015.

Mercedes-Benz clocked 3,566 units in the first quarter of this year (January-March) while Audi sold 3,181 units in the same period last year. However, even though Merc posted a stronger last quarter against the rival from Ingolstadt, Audi’s overall sales in FY 2014-15 are still higher at 11,292 units with 10,851 units sold in the calendar year 2014, and 3,181 units sold in the January - March, 2015 period. Mercedes Benz sold 11,213 units in FY15.

Both the German luxury companies have been battling for the top spot since the last many months.

Sales of new C-Class, E-Class sedan, new generation cars and sports utility vehicles contributed significantly to the volumes in the first quarter of 2015, Mercedes-Benz said in a statement.

Mercedes-Benz India said its January-March quarter numbers are even more significant as this growth was achieved amidst challenging market conditions and no major incentives for the industry in the Union Budget.

Commenting on the sales performance, Mercedes-Benz India, Managing Director & CEO Eberhard Kern said that new launches of GLA, CLA and the C-Class played a significant role in driving up volumes.

He said, “the 40 percent growth achieved in the first quarter of 2015 reflected the company’s strong focus on customers”.

Kern said due to robust demand for its products across the markets there is a waiting list for many models.

“The waitlisted models include the S-Class, the ML-Class, the GL-Class and the newly launched CLA-Class. It is our endeavour to cater to this increased demand and reduce the waiting period for these models,” he added.

Kern said the company’s product offensive across the spectrum, the value added services and finance programmes, customer engagement initiatives have contributed in Mercedes-Benz posting record sales. The company had announced to launch 15 models in 2015, out of which it has launched five so far.