Mercedes’s much talked about low priced hatchback, Mercedes Benz B Class ‘sports tourer’ has finally been rendered in India. The under Rs 25 lakhs hatchback aims to generate volumes similar to BMW X1 and Audi Q3. Mercedes has high hopes with the hatchback and it eyes to gain volumes with the new car in its portfolio. The German luxury car maker witnessed sluggish demand in the last eight months; however it now hopes that things will turn in its favour soon.  

Company officials stated that the growth has been plummeting in the initial eight months of the current fiscal. Mercedes Benz India managed to sell around 7,500 units last calendar year and this year also the company hopes to sell the same number of units. Mercedes Benz B Class which was launched in India yesterday only comes with a price tag of Rs 21.4 lakh (starting price), the high end version is available at Rs 24.87 lakhs (both the price mentioned are ex-showroom Mumbai price).

Currently, the luxury car segment in the Indian car market account for 25,000 units in a year, however, this number is expected to surge to 2.5 lakh units by the year 2020. Mercedes Benz India accounts for 23 per cent of the total sales in the luxury car segment in the Indian car market. The believes that the Rs 25 lakh to Rs 30 lakhs segment has seen immense growth in the last few years however with growing demand, competition has also seen surge. In wake of staying ahead in the competition, one has to come up with new vehicles to lure the customers to the showroom.

Mercedes asserted that it will commence assembling Mercedes Benz M Class locally from the month of October at its manufacturing plant located in Pune. Also the company will assemble Mercedes Benz GL Class locally but from next year, that is 2013. Depending on the demand, Mercedes Benz India could also commence assembling of its newly launched luxury hatchback, Mercedes Benz B Class sports tourer in India from next year.

 
Models currently being assembles here in India at the company’s manufacturing units in Pune include, Mercedes Benz C Class, Mercedes Benz E Class and Mercedes Benz S Class. Localization helps in bringing down the cost of the vehicle that directly results in increase of the sales of that model. Assembling models locally in India would mean lower price tag of these cars and hence this could help pushing the company’s market share in the luxury car segment of the Indian car market.