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Mercedes-Benz India on Wednesday announced it has sold 11,469 units in the domestic market in the first nine months of 2022, significantly higher than the 8,958 units delivered in the same period in 2021. More significantly, Mercedes is well poised to possibly overtake the sales figure from the pre-pandemic year of 2019 - a significant achievement considering the multiple challenges the automotive industry has had to face up to.
Sales for Mercedes-Benz India in the January-September period of the ongoing year saw a 28 per cent growth over figures in the same period of 2021. Bolstered by a slew of new launches as well as updated models have helped the Germans strengthen position at the top of the Indian luxury car market. This despite the semiconductor shortage continuing to pose as a threat for most parts of the ongoing year.
When figures from this year, however, are pitted against those from all of 2019, there may well be much to cheer going forward. In all of 2019, the company sold around 13,700 units. This is before the Covid-19 pandemic struck, hitting sales of every manufacturer in India and the world over. But at just around 2,800 short of that figure this year so far, Mercedes could well be gearing up to underline an even more significant rebound. “Our sales performance is a combination of our attractive product portfolio, bullish customer sentiments and the ongoing festive season," said Martin Schwenk, MD and CEO at Mercedes-Benz India. "We also have a robust order bank across all models and our focus remains to deliver these cars to our customers, on time. We are confident of maintaining the sales momentum in the coming months with newer products and service offerings in the pipeline."
Models like E-Class LWB, GLE and GLS remain the power performers but Mercedes-Benz says its high-end vehicles like GLS Maybach 600, Maybach S- Class, S-Class are also gaining a lot of attention. The newly-launched EQS 580 electric car - the first locally-assembled luxury EV - has received over 300 confirmed bookings. The attention now, however, is on meeting delivery timelines. “It remains our endeavour to produce as many cars as possible to cater to the growing demand, amidst the current supply constraints," said Schwenk, adding the company is now gearing up for yet another EV in the form of the EQB SUV.