April 1, 2013: The call of luxury and the rush to buy before the levy of higher custom duty from April 1 seem to have helped Mercedes-Benz India. The company delivered 2,009 vehicles to customers during the January-March 2013 quarter, a 5 percent jump over the 1,908 units it sold during the same period last year.

The company is now banking on new products to better its performance in the next quarter. Eberhard Kern, managing director and CEO, Mercedes-Benz India, said, “Given the overall strain in the Indian economy and the fact that the passenger vehicles market has de-grown by double digits in January-February 2013, an incremental 5.3 percent performance enhancement is encouraging. There are several exciting product launches slated in the next few months and riding the wave of these fascinating products, we envisage a double-digit growth in the next quarter.”

During the last quarter, Mercedes Benz’s E-class was the volume driver with sales of 800 units during the period.