‘Merc vision is an accident-free auto world’

German luxury carmaker Mercedes-Benz is on an overdrive to wow Indian consumers with new technologies and superior retail experience, according to Wilfried Aulbur, managing director and CEO. In a tete-a-tete with DNA, he reveals the company’s plans:

Are your CNG sedans coming to India?
We have a CNG sedan— the E200 NGT. We tested it in Delhi. The overall performance of the vehicle was very good. However, we found that the real challenge came when one was looking at the convenience of driving such a vehicle, which means getting gas wasn’t easy or fast. We were told customers had wait for hours in a gas station as there was a long queue of auto rickshaws for CNG. So, while we have the opportunity to bring the CNG sedans to India, I don’t think we would have too many of these for now.

Shall we see a bio-diesel on the E-class?
We have proven that our vehicles are bio-diesel compatible. If you look at the C-class, we have driven 80,000 kms cumulatively on bio-diesel, and the only modification we have had to make was with the piping because bio-diesel tends to be slightly more aggressive than normal diesel. So we are ready with it. We are supporting bio-diesel as a concept in various parts of the world. In India, we are looking at centralised generation of bio-diesel because we hope that this will give us an opportunity to produce bio-diesel and, at the same time, head rural development and support farmers.

What’s happening in hybrids and in new technology vehicles?
We just launched the S400 hybrid, which has a mileage of 10 km per litre. For a 2-tonne S-class, that is a good number. This vehicle can be brought in India as a CBU. The new E-class can give you about 14-15 kmpl, but not in city conditions.

The automotive sector worldwide is banking on electrification of vehicles. As for us, maybe we can start production of fuel-cell vehicles in 2010. We’ve had the longest test run of the world’s largest fleet of fuel-cell cars. We also have a large number of fuel cell buses on the roads. We actually sold a few in China.

Now, we are looking at first serious production of fuel cell vehicles. The biggest challenge to this is the cost of the vehicle and infrastructure. The cost goes down only if you manufacture reasonable numbers. We started working on buses with fuel cells in 1984 and since then a lot of technological issues have been resolved.

One of the issues was what happens when the fuel cell freezes. Before we see a mass application of fuel cells, a lot of other optimisation measures will come. The other point is, eventually, crude oil prices will go up again and touch levels unseen in the past. This will lead to two things —- make other technologies viable and also make crude exploitation viable in areas that weren’t considered in the past.

Could you elaborate on your  ‘True Blue’ solutions?
The vision of the company is sustainable mobility, and this has two components — one is mobility that does not have an impact on the environment, which means that the overall CO2 balance has to be zero, which is a tall order.

Overall, CO2 balance has to be along the whole vehicle lifecycle, from creation to utilisation to discarding of the vehicle. The second component is to have accident-free driving. Our vision, at the end of the day, is that there shouldn’t be a single accident if you are driving a Mercedes Benz.

We have sensors and technologies that identify if the driver is tired and asks him to take a break. We have sensors to make sure you stay in the lane. We can’t use these in India as there are some regulatory issues. There are systems that help you maintain a safe distance from a car that you’re following.

We have systems that recognise traffic signs and people movement. And all these things are automotive. If all these are combined with a GPS system, then all you need to do is tell the car your destination and it drives you there. These technologies are now getting into production vehicles.

Tata Motors recently said its World Truck would compete with the likes of Mercedes Benz, Nissan, Volvo, etc. How do you plan to combat this?
Currently what we have is the tipper application for mines. We think we have the best product in this market. It has clear advantages in terms of fuel efficiency, maintenance costs, durability and downtime, and our intention is to build up the after-sales network in a step-wise manner as these are high technology machines. 

Our immediate focus in not on market leadership. If you look at other applications, we are looking at over dimensional cargo, some specialty applications. However, with Mercedes Benz, we will be a niche player. Our pricing is 3-5% more than Volvo’s. In the bus segment, we have 2-axle vehicles. There are about 25 such plying on the roads now. We want to ramp up this segment, albeit slowly, because there are certain challenges in the Indian market.

Any order from the state corporations?
We sold 4 buses to The Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation, and we hope to launch trail vehicles in Bangalore for State Road Transport Corporation.

The luxury car market is expanding, with new players entering now and next year. Shall we see new launches from Mercedes Benz or would you upgrade existing models?

We already have a full-range of all our new models in India for a long time. In terms of domestic manufacturing, we are producing C, E and S class, making it the largest product portfolio. In terms of our CBU portfolio, we have the SLK, CLS, AMG range.

So a major product launch will only depend on whether Germany is developing a new product for us. In terms of upgradations, we are doings two things. First is to bring the latest product to the market as fast as possible. So, we are now looking forward to launch the new E-class, which will happen sometime later this year.

Secondly, we are trying to go beyond the changes in engines and trim when we are talking of upgradations. We are also increasing the choice for our customers. So in terms of engines and trim options, you will have a significant choice in our vehicles. If you look at the E-class, for example, you have a 230, 280, 220 CDi, 280 CDi.

Is there a small car strategy for India?
There are a couple of ‘Smarts’ in the country. However, in India, if we have to launch a similar vehicle, it would be in the niche segment. It will be a vehicle for somebody who wants a second or a third vehicle. Smart is a lifestyle statement. Getting into volumes with Smart is impossible in India.