Mercedes-Benz to bank on ’15 for 2015’ strategy for India

Mercedes-Benz India, which clocked record sales of 10,201 cars in 2014, has kicked off the new year by announcing ambitious plans for 2015 under its ’15 in 15’ strategy. 

This aggressive product offensive will see the German carmaker launch 15 new models in 2015 to be sold through an expanded dealer network which includes 15 new dealerships. The company has dubbed 2015 as the company’s  ‘Live the Best’ year, which will focus on offering the best products and services. The cumulative impact of the Year of Offensive (2013) and the Year of Excellence (2014) has seen Mercedes-Benz make a resounding return into the luxury carmakers’ chart and is in fact, nearing close to leader and arch rival Audi in the Indian market.   

Mercedes-Benz India has announced that it will focus on five core pillars in 2015 in its bid to be the top brand in India’s hotly contested luxury car market. 

Products: The first core area will be the product line-up. The CLA-class compact luxury sedan, the first model to be launched by Mercedes-Benz India this year, will squarely target the Audi A3. Pre-bookings for the car, which will be available in petrol (CLA 200) and diesel (CLA 200 CDI), have begun at all dealerships. The pricing, which will be crucial to its success and ideally should be in the tight gap between the C-class and above the A-class, will be announced on January 22.

The entire model line-up for the year isn’t clear as yet, but what’s coming for certain are different variants of the C-class, the facelifted B-class and niche models like the E 400 Cabriolet or the convertible version of the facelifted E-class. The Viano van, targeted at the hospitality and tourist industry, is also rumoured to be coming, though Mercedes is understood to be struggling with the final price of the car. The AMG GT is likely to top off a very exciting 2015 for the company. 

Network expansion: Expanding the dealer base, especially into smaller cities, including Tier 3 towns is going to be another focus area for Mercedes-Benz India. The plan is to open 15 all-new dealerships, taking the company’s all-India strength to 83 dealerships. In addition, several AMG Performance Centres will also be launched to give a wider footprint to Mercedes’ high-performance brand. 2015 will also see Mercedes getting aggressive in the used car market with Mercedes-Benz Certified, a new pre-owned car division that was launched in December 2014. 

Brand experiences: Several new initiatives will be kicked off as part of Mercedes-Benz India’s focus on wooing existing and new customers. With its ‘Luxe Drive’ programme, the company will offer experiences that blend fashion, gourmet food and some exciting driving activities. The company says that this is a first-of-a-kind initiative to cement Mercedes as a brand that’s associated with fine living. 

Towards the more down-to-earth side of the ownership spectrum, Mercedes-Benz India will be offering some sweet deals to keep cost of ownership in check. A special interest rate of 9.99 percent is being offered for a loan on any of Mercedes’ new compact range of cars. Also, a special maintenance package of Rs 1.99 per km for the first 20,000km, which covers all costs, is being offered to owners of compact Mercs. The company wants to nix the perception that its cars are exorbitant to maintain. 

CSR activities: A focus on the environment and safety is being accorded top priority by Mercedes-Benz in 2015. A plan to expand the solar power facility in its Chakan plant is underway and there will be several initiatives on road safety that will be kicked off as well.

Operations: Mercedes-Benz India’s plant in Chakan has a manufacturing capacity of 20,000 units, but the operations were slowed down due to certain stalled clearances which, according to company sources, have been given swiftly by the new Maharashtra government. This will allow the company to increase CKD operations, and hence a greater number of models will be locally assembled. This could lower prices of certain models too, which are currently being heavily taxed as CBUs.