Mercedes to hike prices of its cars from January of 2020

Close on the heels of several car makers announcing an upcoming price hike, Mercedes Benz on Wednesday stated that it would be increasing prices of its cars by up to 3% from January of 2020.

Blaming an increase in a number of input and commodity costs, Mercedes said that the price correction would be across its range of products and would come into effect from the first week of January. "We have been reviewing the various cost escalations, including the rise in the commodity and input costs that have been exerting pressure on our bottom line," said Martin Schwenk, Managing Director & CEO, Mercedes-Benz India. "To run a sustainable business and protect our customers’ investment in the brand, there is a need to offset the impact of these rising costs through a moderate price correction. Though we have been absorbing the majority of these, we are left with few options but to pass on some of the additional costs to our customers."

Schwenk, however, added that Mercedes' financial offerings would continue to strive to make the company's cars a reality for prospective buyers.

Mercedes is the country's largest luxury car maker and celebrated 25 years of 'Make in India' just last month. The portfolio includes locally produced Mercedes Maybach S 560, S-Class, E-Class Long Wheelbase, C-Class, CLA luxury sedans and the GLA, GLE and the GLS luxury SUVs. The CKD GLC was the ninth product added to Mercedes-Benz’s local production portfolio.

Mercedes has been on a launch spree of sorts and its latest offering was the updated GLC while it has assured that it would continue to bring in new and updated products through 2020.