Mercedes-Benz India ends H1 2019 with 6,561 units sold. H1 (Q1 + Q2) 2018 sales stood at a high of 8,061 units. With this, the company has reported 18.60 percent sales decline for the first 6 months of the year.
As it stands, Q2 2019 sales stands at 2,676 units. Sales is down 23.65 percent from 3,505 units sold in Q2 2018. Q1 2019 sales were higher at 3,885 units. Even then, sales decline stood at 14.72 percent, much lower than this quarter.
Martin Schwenk, Managing Director and CEO, Mercedes-Benz India commented, “We are glad to maintain the leadership position in the luxury car market by sustaining our sales performance despite facing continuous macro-economic headwinds and a temporary limited availability of volume models.”
“We are excited to retain our customers’ loyalty and sustain market leadership by continuing our customer-centric initiatives. As a fundamentally strong brand, Mercedes Benz continues to remain bullish on the mid to long term prospect of the dynamic Indian market”, he further added
It’s no surprise though that sales have contracted even in the luxury car segment. A segment that usually does better than the mass market segment. And while there’s no immediate respite in sight, Mercedes-Benz India expects to ‘recover gradually from the third quarter’.
At present the market has been dealing with multiple challenges. They include an increase in interest rates, inflationary hikes, liquidity crunch, and rising import costs. Though challenges continue unabated, Mercedes-Benz India continues to be at the top of the luxury sales market at mid-year. The company has also dealt with temporary limited availability of volume models.
For Mercedes-Benz India, January-June 2019 saw the Long Wheelbase E-Class sell in great numbers. New C-Class, and GLC SUV did well too. AMG growth is reported at 47 percent for H1 2019. In terms of sales growth, this segment reported the highest growth.
As a fundamentally strong brand, Mercedes-Benz continue to remain bullish on the mid to long term prospect of the dynamic Indian market.
