Mercedes-Benz India on Wednesday rolled out it’s first M-Class from its facility in Chakan, Pune and also declared the start of operations of its paint-shop, capable of environment friendly water based painting. MBL has invested over Rs 200 crore in this paint facility.
The company will be manufacturing 100 vehicles per month from this facility. Available now in the 250 CDI variant, the new M-Class is priced at Rs 45.64 lakh, ex-show room Pune.
Commenting on this development Ralf Mungenast, director, International Productions, Daimler AG said, “The luxury SUV is the fastest growing segment in the Indian automotive industry and the new M-Class is the leader in its category.
The benefits of local production have been realized 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.
This 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 and further highlights Daimler AG’s focus and commitment on the Indian market.”
Built from CKD units, the ML 250 is currently localised to a degree of around 30 per cent, with the power train and axles being sourced locally. Along with ML 250, MBL will start production of the ML 350 CDI, as well as the GL-Class in the next one year.
Piyush Arora, director, Technical, Mercedes-Benz India said, “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. The paint shop and the additional assembly lines will be the cornerstone in Mercedes-Benz’s product offensive for the foreseeable future.”