2021 will be one of the most product intense years: Mercedes-Benz India

 

The luxury car maker says its third quarter sales are back at pre-Covid levels

Luxury car maker Mercedes-Benz has said that its third quarter sales were at pre-Covid levels. To accelerate growth in 2021, the company plans to launch around ten models and 2021 will be one of the most product intense years.
Mercedes-Benz India sold 5,007 units during January to September 2020 period as compared to 9,915 units during the same period last year. During the festive period of Navratri & Dussehra Mercedes-Benz India delivered a record 550 cars and the company says considering the challenges faced this year, 2020 festive sales underlined the buoyant customer sentiment and the company is satisfied with the customer demand for its products.

Mercedes-Benz claims a dominant market share of about 40% in the luxury car industry.

Santosh Iyer, Vice President, Sales and Marketing, Mercedes-Benz India said that Mercedes-Benz was not immune to the pandemic and the company had sales de-growth in the second quarter. The company temporarily shut its production facility, which was reopened on May 6.

Sales gradually started recovering wherever markets unlocked and business stabilised. "Our January-November sales numbers are as per our expectations and we have seen month on month sequential growth," said Iyer, adding that they recovered by around 25-30% on average month wise since June.

Company's third quarter sales were at 80 percent of pre-Covid levels and October-November sales indicate that the company has reached pre-Covid levels.

It may be noted, the luxury car segment was specifically impacted with zero sales in April and almost 85 per cent de-growth in May.

On the product launches, he said, the company had stuck to its product introduction plan for 2020 and launched 10 new products round the year. There were some delays due to the pandemic. While it launched the EQC in 2020, the launch of the A-Class Limousine and GLA is planned in 2021.