August 20, 2012: Mercedes-Benz India has inaugurated the largest ever workshop by any luxury car manufacturer in India, at Andheri (East) in Mumbai. Spread over a covered area of 100,000 square feet, the new state-of-the-art workshop of Auto Hangar, Mercedes-Benz India’s dealer partner in Mumbai, was inaugurated by Peter Honegg, managing director and CEO, Mercedes-Benz India, and Mohan Mariwala, managing director, AutoHangar.
Peter Honegg commented: “Mercedes-Benz’s core brand philosophy is Best or Nothing and this has been our guiding philosophy in all our initiatives. While we continue to make some of the best cars world over, it has also been our relentless endeavour to provide each of our customers with an unmatched servicing experience leading to a delightful vehicle ownership experience. With this world-class workshop of Auto Hangar, having the best of equipment and human dexterity, I am confident that discerning and loyal customers in Mumbai will cherish owning a Mercedes-Benz vehicle. Going forward, world-class servicing standards will be the key differentiator and Mercedes-Benz will continue to create new benchmark and take a lead. We have been focusing on strategically expanding our network in India and this new world-class workshop is yet another step to move closer to the customers”.
Auto Hangar’s new workshop was set up over 18 months and has 54 servicing bays capable of servicing 60 cars per day. It employs a highly qualified and experienced team of nearly 160 personnel who will handle all the service requirements of Mercedes-Benz customers.
Speaking at the inauguration, Auto Hangar’s Mohan Mariwala said: “Increasingly the need for a world-class servicing facility will define the way luxury car purchase is going to evolve in India. Today’s mature customer demands world-class servicing standards that are available to his/her counterparts across the globe. Auto Hangar’s new workshop is yet another step towards providing our customers an unparalleled servicing standard that reflects Mercedes-Benz’s philosophy of Best or Nothing.”
Auto Hangar Mumbai is equipped with sophisticated equipment and the latest technology like remote sensing diagnosis. The workshop, which has a large tooling capacity, will undertake the servicing requirements customers in Mumbai and also those from neighbouring cities. The workshop will provide round-the-clock support in service, general repairs, body repairs, paint job, wheel alignment, wheel balancing, tyre change, car wash, polishing and other servicing requirements.
Mercedes-Benz India, which recently unveiled its B-class Sports Tourer, has 72 touchpoints in 31 cities in India. The company has, of late, embarked been on an aggressive growth drive in India. Its recent ‘Go to Customer’ initiatives include the Star Lounge, Star Lease, Star Drive, Trendz concept stores, the AMG Driving Academy at the Buddh International Circuit and rolling-out of the Star Showcase across the country.
In an interview to Autocar Professional last fortnight, chief Peter Honegg had said: “We have a clear strategy from our Board which tells us that in 2020 we want to be back at No.1 globally, both in profitability and numbers. We cannot achieve that without being in a leading position in India. Assuming a market of eight million by 2020 (in India), the luxury segment can be expected to be between a realistic two and four percent which is 240,000-300000 units. That will be divided between Mercedes, Audi, BMW, Jaguar, Volvo and maybe a Japanese player too. I want to have a market share of 20-25 percent or 50,000-60000 units. I want to be able to do 10 times what I am doing today.“
Battle royale
The luxury car market in India is seeing a battle royale between Audi, BMW and Mercedes-Benz. In July 2012, Mercedes sold 376 units as against Audi’s 680 and BMW’s 672. In 2011-12, the segment grew by about 45 percent with estimated sales of 25,645 units as against 17,550 units in 2010-11. The last fiscal saw BMW emerge as the new leader with sales of 9,593 units (37.4 percent market share), toppling Mercedes (29.6 percent) from the top spot. Audi (24.1 percent), with sales of 6,169 units, inched closer to Mercedes but Jaguar Land Rover (8.9 percent) with sales of 2,288 units was the biggest gainer, helped by local assembly of the Freelander 2 at its Pune plant.
Photograph: L-R: Mohan Mariwala, MD, Auto Hangar; Peter Honegg, MD and CEO, Mercedes-Benz India; and Devdutta Chandavarkar, director (aftersales), Mercedes-Benz India at the new workshop.