Mercedes-Benz will launch 10 new vehicles in India in 2023: Santosh Iyer

German luxury carmaker Mercedes-Benz will launch ten new vehicles in India in 2023 with majority in the over ₹1-crore price category, which grew over 69 per cent last year, according to a senior company official. Mercedes-Benz India, which posted record sales in 2022 at 15,822 units, had sold over 3,500 cars that are priced above Rs 1 crore last year.

In 2021, Mercedes-Benz India sold 11,242 units. Its previous best sales were achieved in 2018 at 15,583 units.

The company is looking at an overall double-digit sales growth this year, and as part of the drive it launched its 'AMG E53 4MATIC+ Cabriolet' model priced at Rs 1.3 crore on Friday.

"The biggest growth for us in the last year has come from the TEV (top-end vehicle) segment, where we have grown by 69 per cent," newly appointed Managing Director & CEO of Mercedes-Benz India Santosh Iyer told PTI.

The company's top-end vehicles include S-Class Maybach, GLS Maybach, top-end AMGs, S-Class and GLS SUV, which are priced over Rs 1 crore (ex-showroom).

Iyer, who is the first Indian to be elevated to lead Mercedes-Benz in the country, said the share of its TEV has increased to 22 per cent of the company's total sales, up from 12 per cent in the pre-Covid year of 2018.

He further said bringing more products into the TEV segment will be a part of the company's "six pillars" strategy for 2023.

"The first pillar is to think and act like a luxury brand and for that we will be introducing 10 desirable cars in 2023, the majority of them will be in the TEV segment...," he said.

Expanding the TEV base is a key part of the strategy, Iyer said, adding, "we have grown at 69 per cent and we will be launching more products there. We have sold more than 3,500 cars only in TEVs in 2022... that's a lot of cars in the Rs 1-crore-plus segment".

Also, he said the company will be putting a lot of emphasis on its online store in order to enhance the omnichannel experience for its customers.

"We sold 2,000 cars through our online platform last year... We are making it even better for customers today. Earlier, they were not able to see cars which will be produced after three months. With the enhancements in our online store, they can actually see the visibility of cars for up to one year," Iyer said.

Mercedes-Benz India will also take the lead in electric vehicles, and is looking at more EVs to enhance its product portfolio to add to the existing models EQC, EQB, EQS 53 AMG and EQS 580, he added.

Sustainability is also a key theme of the 2023 strategy, Iyer said, adding, "By the end of last year, we achieved 100 per cent green power for our Chakan facility... we will not stop there. We are also committing that in 2023 we will go 100 per cent paperless."

He further said, "for the first time we are extending the responsibility to our franchisee partner network. We are saying that one-third of our network will operate on sustainable power and the full network will go green by 2025."

The company is also increasing its supply chain resilience as it increases production which is already "at two shifts and in a couple of areas we are running three shifts".

In terms of the growth outlook for 2023, Iyer said, "We are looking at profitable and resilient growth. We are aiming for double-digit growth. A sustained growth helps us to also do more investment and therefore it's important that we focus on the profitability and resilient growth for the market."

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