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Luxury car maker Mercedes-Benz India has started assembling its sports utility vehicle M-Class at its Chakan facility near Pune, making it cheaper by over Rs 10 lakh in the country. The company has also declared the start of operations of its paint shop at the same location.
“The M-Class 250 CDI is the first M-Class ever to be offered from a local production outside Mercedes-Benz’s SUV plant in Tuscaloosa, USA. India becomes the ‘first’ market in the world to enjoy this elite status,” Mercedes-Benz India Managing Director and CEO Peter Honegg said in a statement.
[caption id=“attachment_486800” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  The M-Class accelerates from 0-100 km/h in a mere 9 seconds.[/caption]
The company has priced the locally assembled M-Class at Rs 46.50 lakh for ex-showroom, Delhi. The CBU M-Class was priced at Rs 56.9 lakh (ex-showroom, Delhi). The luxury SUV is the fastest growing segment in the Indian automotive industry and the new M-Class is the leader in its category, he added.
Till date, 2,000 units of the M-Class have been sold in the Indian market as completely built units (CBU). About 600 units have been sold in January-December 2011 and an equal number in the first nine months of 2012.
“The benefits of local production have been realised in the form of aggressive pricing, easier production availability and flexible production scheduling – each of these will benefit the discerning customers and ensure greater appeal of the M-Class in the high growth luxury SUV segment,” Honegg said.
Mercedes-Benz India also announced the start of operations of its paint shop located within its Chakan plant. “The new Paint Shop at Mercedes-Benz India Chakan facility now positions us as a global benchmark within Mercedes-Benz world. This underscores our bullish outlook for Indian market and we look forward to introducing more locally produced vehicles for the discerning Indian customers,” Mercedes-Benz India Director (Technical) Piyush Arora said.
Impact Shorts
More ShortsThe paint shop has an annual capacity of 20,000 units, which is expandable up to 40,000 units annually.
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