In B-Class, Mercedes has its game-changer

Mercedes-Benz has had a difficult 2-3 years in terms of the fight for the luxury pole position, what with Teutonic rivals like BMW and Audi scoring bigtime.

That’s set to change with the marquee carmaker unleashing a crossover -- it prefers to call the new B-Class offering a ‘Sports Tourer’.

To rack up the volumes, the company has priced it aggressively between Rs21.49 lakh  and Rs24.87 lakh ex-showroom Mumbai. That translates into Rs25-29 lakh on-road, making it the most affordable Merc in town.

It also puts on notice a range of SUVs that don’t have the benefit of a marquee tag but are currently doing decently in India in terms of sales.

Debashis Mitra, director, sales & marketing, Mercedes-Benz India, believes this is the company’s answer to sales headwinds.

“Our key markets of Mumbai and Delhi have seen a drop in volumes growth from 70% last year to 50% this year, but we are seeing growing demand from tier-II and III cities, where there is great aspirational value, and people have the wealth to test luxury cars,” he said.

The B-Class has had a roaring ride since launch late last year globally with over 75,000 units sold.

The story is repeating in India with 250 cars already booked and the deliveries for this year locked in. Mercedes said it is now taking bookings only for deliveries starting January.

Experts said the car could ratchet up more than a third of Mercedes’ annual sales in India, which stood a shade below 7,500 last year.

“It’s a fabulous offering, and from what we saw today, has all the trappings of quality the carmaker is known for. If I were a rival, I would be worried,” said an automobile analyst with a foreign brokerage, who asked he be not named.

Mitra said the sellout in the pre-launch phase shows latent demand for ‘sports tourers’ in India.

The car is only available in a petrol variant now and currently being imported directly from manufacturing plants in Germany and Hungary.

Mercedes India expects to import completely knocked down kits and assemble the car in Pune starting next year.

A diesel variant will be in by the third quarter next year.

Mercedes currently has a 30% share of the luxury car market in India – a segment that saw sales of 24,500 units last year. The number is expected to swell to 200-300,000 cars over the next 7-8 years as wealth grows exponentially.

Mercedes will next launch its M Class car on October 4 followed by an SUV in 2014 and the much-touted A-Class hatchback.