Giving a thrust to local manufacturing of luxury cars, automaker Mercedes-Benz today rolled out the Maybach S500 sedan from its plant here, making the facility on the outskirts of the city only the second outside Germany to produce the car.
Apart from the locally manufactured Maybach S500, which will sell for Rs 1.67 crore, the German car major also introduced the imported Maybach S600 in the domestic market, which comes with a price tag of Rs 2.6 crore. Both prices are ex-showroom, Pune.
Mercedes-Benz India's (MBI) outgoing chief Eberhard Kern said the Maybach S500, at Rs 1.67 crore, is the costliest locally assembled car in the country.
On the choice of Pune over other markets to locally assemble the Maybach, Kern said "this shows the amount of trust the group has in the ability of Indian management and engineers for making most luxury sedans.
"This will definitely give a big push to the government's 'Make in India' initiative. It also shows the proven prowess of India in manufacturing world class products."
Making both announcements, the outgoing managing director and chief executive also said that with this, Mercedes now assembles eight models at the Pune facility that has an annual capacity to make 20,000 units at its two assembly lines.
He said this makes Mercedes the largest among the luxe carmakers that includes German car majors BMW and Audi, and the Tatas-owned Jaguar Land Rover.
Between them, these four carmakers nearly control the 33,000 units a year luxury car market in the country.
Mercedes' list of locally assembled cars now includes the C, E, M, S Class models apart from the CLA, GLA and GL Class models besides the MaybachS500.
"With the launch of the Mercedes Maybach S600, we now expand the current range of the S-Class with the addition of a vehicle that sets a new benchmark for exclusivity and meets even the most discerning of requirements in terms of appointments. The Maybach is the most prestigious and exclusive offering from us till date," Kern said.
The car is 207 mm longer than the S-Class with long wheelbase, he said, adding that from the technical side, the Maybach S600 is "more Mercedes" and from the luxury side "more Maybach".
He said the car is pitted against only two models - the Rolls Royce and the Bentley.
