Mercedes-Benz India has ended 2019 in the red. The luxury car brand sold 13,786 units through the year. While it continues to be the top selling luxury auto manufacturer, sales decline is reported at 11.27 percent, down from 15,538 units sold in 2018. The brand had sold over 15k cars in 2017 too.
But despite of decline in sales, Mercedes-Benz India has retained top spot once again in 2019. This is the fifth straight year where Mercedes has managed to stay as the No 1 luxury car brand, 2nd is BMW India (2019 sales at 9,000 units). Mercedes-Benz India reported 9,915 units sold through Jan – Sep 2019. Sales at the time had fallen 15.89 percent from 11,789 units sold in the same 9 months in 2018.
Mercedes-Benz India reports Q4 2019 sales at an all time high of 3,871 units, up 3.3 percent over Q4 2018 sales of 3,749 units. That’s 15.41 percent growth over Q3 2019 sales reported at 3,354 units. Last quarter though sales had contracted 11.9 percent, down from 3,808 units units sold in Q3 2018.
In fact, Q4 sales is the only positive quarter marker for the year. Mercedes Benz India sold 3,885 units in Q1 2019. Q2 2019 sales were down to 2,676 units. H1 2019 sales stood at 6,561 units. H2 2019 sales are higher at 7,225 units. Though sales contracted, Mercedes-Benz India still continues to enjoy a dominant market share. In fact that number has increased considered the market size has not increased, and the company’s sales decline is lower than market decline.
Martin Schwenk, Managing Director & CEO, Mercedes-Benz India said, “We are satisfied with our sales performance in 2019 despite facing strong macro-economic headwinds, specifically in the first three quarters. We were however able to positively influence the customer sentiment with our industry-best customer solutions and achieved the new best ever Q4. 2020 is going to be another important year for Mercedes-Benz India and we continue to be optimistic with the country’s mid to long-term prospect.”
The luxury auto manufacturer has been focused on ensuring a BSVI compliant line-up ahead of the deadline of April 1, 2020. New gen CLA, GLA and GLS will be available in India from Q2 2020 onward. New GLE bookings are on, and the vehicle will be launched on January 28, 2020. On 14th this month, Mercedes will introduce their electric car EQ in India.
The company will bring forth a strong product offensive in 2020. AMG and Dream Cars segment grew by 54 percent through 2019. Long Wheelbase E-Class sedan remains the single highest selling model for the brand through 2019. C-Class sedan and CLA continue to be popular. GLC continues to be the the most popular SUV.