Mercedes expects 25% of its India sales to come from EVs by this date

German luxury car marquee Mercedes-Benz hopes to see at least 25 per cent of its sales in India coming from electric vehicles in the next five years, said Mercedes-Benz India MD and CEO Martin Schwenk during the launch of the EQS 53. The automaker currently leads the luxury car market in India, and it aims to continue to be at the pole position as the industry shifts its focus to electric vehicles from internal combustion engine models.

For this, Mercedes-Benz India will be launching three electric vehicles in the next four months. This move comes as part of the strategy to accelerate its electric mobility journey in the country, revealed the brand with a three-star logo. The next in the pipeline is the locally assembled EQS 580, which is slated to launch in September, followed by a seven-seater EQB electric SUV, which would hit showrooms in November this year.

Speaking about the automaker's EV strategy in India, Schwenk has said that the company is very optimistic and bullish to look at the growth potential. "We are very optimistic and we are bullish to look at around, say 25 per cent of sales in the next five years (from EVs)," he said. He also added, "Whether it comes early or later, nobody knows but two years ago, I would not have had the guts to make that statement."

He said that the current percentage of contribution of EVs to the company's overall sales is in the low single digit, but from next year when there will be full availability of the new electric models, it could go up to the high single digit.

Speaking about the market potential, Schwenk said that the overall market sentiment, customer expectation and the company's own product availability all point in a direction that Mercedes-Benz India will see a successful transition into electric.