The Maybach man

Newsmaker/HANS-MICHAEL HUBER

When Hans-Michael Huber, managing director and chief executive officer, DaimlerChrysler India, went visiting his home country Germany last Christmas he started feeling restless after a few days.

"I looked out of the window one morning and did not see the sun. I was missing the sun which makes the world so different in India, it makes the people so sensitive and makes you smile," he says.

"Maybe I was missing 'India Shining' and all the activities all around," he adds.

Huber is back with big news. At this year's Auto Expo, he launched the super-premium saloon Maybach at a staggering price of Rs 5 crore.

For obvious reasons, the Maybach is the biggest draw at the Expo. It is getting more eyeballs than the sporty Audi TT and the very smart SkodaDesign, both from the stable of rival Volkswagen, that also made their debut this year.

Huber is convinced there could not have been a better time to launch the Maybach in India. For sure, the car will fetch few buyers.

But these are the few who have contributed to 'India Shining' in their own way by generating wealth, he says.

"I have no doubt that these people will be wanting to tell the world that they are a part of this big economic boom. Some owners of Mercedes vehicles will also want to upgrade to the Maybach," he says.

More than that, the Maybach is "a big statement of what Daimler can do," Huber adds.

Huber says he is amazed at the way the Indian economy has been growing, and that he has no doubt that in the next few years the size of the premium car market will only become bigger.

Daimler has dropped the idea of developing a compact car for the Asian market and has decided to focus on its core strength of making and marketing niche premium cars.

That is precisely the brief Huber carried when he landed in India around two years ago. The Indian arm of the German carmaker had just started making profits. Huber sustained the profit growth next year.

Though profits declined last year by around 10 per cent""the strengthening of the Euro against the rupee raised cost of imported inputs by around 34 per cent""but he sold 30 per cent more cars than the previous year.

"My focus has been to increase the product range and sustain the volume, which we achieved last year," he says and adds he does not expect to sustain the 30 per cent growth rate achieved in 2003 in 2004. Instead, the company will be satisfied even with a 10-12 per cent growth.

This year, attention will be on marketing the Maybach, of course. The company will use the Mercedes Benz golf tournament to promote the product and offer pleasure drives to the prospective buyers.

Huber has more up his sleeves. The company plans to sell 50 per cent more cars as also the high-end commercial vehicles in India five years from now.

Huber has already started working on these projects. Then there are initiatives like development of bio-diesel vehicles.

The 44-year-old Huber has his hands full. Yet, the day begins early as his three sons get ready to go to school. They are studying at the Mercedes Benz International School in IT Park, Pune.

Not only is DaimlerChrysler a sponsor for the school, Huber is also the head of the board of education. All complaints from students and parents, some of them from his own children too, come to him.

Despite a stiff work schedule, he finds time to deal with these issues. After all, skills at convincing the top consumers in the world can be honed at home.