Mercedes Benz India Limited, the market leader in the luxury car market in India is betting big on the pre-owned premium car business in the country.
The luxury car maker, which has already launched its used car business under the brand name 'Proven Exclusivity' in four cities- New Delhi, Mumbai, Ahmedabad and Chennai, is now looking to expand this business further and expects the segment to contribute 15-20 per cent of its overall turnover of passenger car business in the country over the next three years.
“We have launched 'Proven Exclusivity', our pre-owned car venture, in four cities- New Delhi, Mumbai, Ahmedabad and Chennai and the response has been overwhelming as we have been able to achieve a transaction of over 200 cars in less than two months.
The market for pre-owned premium cars in the country is gathering steam and we expect this segment to contribute 15-20 per cent to our sales in the passenger car business in the country in the next three years”, said Debashis Mitra, director (sales & marketing) and member of the board of management, Mercedes Benz India.
Mercedes aims to extend its used car business to Chandigarh, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Bangalore and Pune by September 30 this year.
Mercedes Benz clocked a turnover of Rs 1400 crore from its passenger car operations in India in 2009 and the turnover for 2010 is projected at Rs 2000 crore.
The company has achieved a sales volume of around 3000 cars (as on July 31 this year) and has recorded a year-on-year growth of 75 per cent in the country.
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The size of the luxury car market in India is estimated at around 8500 units and is expected to go up to 13000 units by the end of this year.
Mercedes Benz has regained its numero uno status in the premium car market with a share of 43 per cent, upstaging BMW whose share currently stands at 36 per cent.
The C-class which is the entry level segment for Mercedes cars has been the biggest driver of sales for the auto major.
While the C-class has witnessed a jump of 75 per cent in the January-July period of 2010, the E-class has posted a growth of 25 per cent, followed by S-class at 25 per cent.
All these three classes of cars are assembled at Mercedes Benz's manufacturing facility in the country located at Chakan near Pune.
Buoyed by the robust demand of these cars, Mercedes Benz has now decided to ramp up production by kick starting second shift operations.
“We are going to start second shift operations at our Chakan plant within 2-3 months. Presently, we are manufacturing around 5000 cars through single shift operations”, said Mitra. Mercedes Benz is also planning to introduce new models in the India market this year.
“We have already introduced 16 new products in India in the past seven months.
In the remaining five months of this year, we would be rolling out a few new models and our focus would be on the SUV (Sports Utility Vehicle) segment”, Mitra stated.