Mercedes aims one in every four cars it sells in India to be EVs in 3 years
German auto giants Mercedes Benz aims the sales of its electric vehicles to play a bigger role in India in coming days. The carmaker plans to sell at least one in every four cars in the next three years, pushing its EVs to contribute 25 per cent of its overall sales by 2026. Currently, electric vehicles from the German auto giants only make up for around four per cent of its sales in the country.
Mercedes Benz has been on the EV offensive in India for some time now. Since the launch of the EQC, its first fully-electric model back in 2021, the carmaker has driven in two more models - the EQS and the EQB. The EQC is no longer available for booking. Mercedes now plans to introduce up to four new electric cars within the next one and a half years to increase its EV portfolio. Mercedes currently leads the luxury car segment by some distance and plans to emulate its success in the EV segment too with newer models.
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Santosh Iyer, Managing Director and CEO at Mercedes-Benz India, said the company will focus on EV penetration in India in coming days. “For India as well we feel that there would be a rapid adoption as and when new cars launch, and at this stage we are looking at three to four new EVs in the next 12 to 18 months time," said Iyer on Thursday during an interaction with news agency PTI in Hyderabad.
Mercedes Benz is among very few foreign car manufactures who have started to assemble their cars locally, bringing down the overall cost. The German auto giant has its facility in Pune which has an annual capacity of around 20,000 vehicles. The carmaker has plans to double the production capacity soon. “Our current investments are close to ₹2,700 crore in the plant. With GLC, we have invested an additional ₹100 crore. This capacity to make 20,000 cars in India go up to 40,000... The first phase of 20,000, we should be seeing very soon. In the next two to three years, we should be reaching those numbers," Iyer said.
Watch: Mercedes EQS 580: First Drive Review
Mercedes sells both the standard and the AMG versions of the EQS electric sedan in India. The carmaker also launched the EQB electric SUV in December last year at a price of ₹74.5 lakh (ex-showroom). Among the upcoming EVs, Mercedes Benz is expected to drive in the electric SUV version of the EQS too.
