Despite the credit crunch and global meltdown, there is no dearth of discerning buyers for the Mercedes-Benz in Punjab. The Punjab market did relatively well for the luxury car brand as its sales grew by 48 per cent in 2008 over the previous year, whereas the company’s national sales grew by 45.77 per cent.
“Punjab is a very important market for us and we are aggressively looking at the region with new product line. Specially Ludhiana has responded well to the Mercedes sales,” Mercedes-Benz India Director of Corporate Affairs Suhas Kadlaskar told Business Standard.
The company sold 276 cars in this region, which also includes Chandigarh and a part of Haryana, last year(Jan-December) as compared to 175 units during the corresponding period in 2007. Kadlaskar said the northern region, including Delhi, was contributing roughly 38 per cent of the company’s total sales, followed by the western and southern markets.
Commenting on the national sales, he added, “In 2008, the sales grew by 45.77 per cent over the corresponding period in 2007.” The company sold 3,625 cars last year.” However, he pointed out that the first and second quarter of this year (2009) would be particularly challenging for the company due to the ongoing slowdown.
