Mercedes-Benz India, the market leader and the largest luxury car maker in the country, has announced sales of 2,386 units in the January-March 2020 period, down 38.6 percent YoY (January-March 2019: 3,885). Although the year and the first quarter began with positive customer sentiment and the company witnessed sales traction, the Covid-19 lockdown led to a complete sales stop. 

Globally too, the carmaker has been impacted with sales down 15% to 477,400.  

According to Martin Schwenk, MD and CEO, Mercedes-Benz India, “We started 2020 on a high note and our existing as well as newly launched products continued to draw customer traction till the time sales came to a complete stop, due to the current COVID-19 pandemic situation. These are difficult times for all of us and our main focus is to ensure the health and safety of our employees, customers, dealers, business partners and the community around us. At Mercedes-Benz we are doing our best to support all our stakeholders through varied initiatives and measures, so that all of us can emerge stronger than ever before, especially during this period of crisis.”

Commenting on the shift to BS VI-compliant models, Schwenk said: “Mercedes-Benz India has been the first automobile brand in India to launch a ‘Made in India, for India’ BS VI vehicle in January 2018 and today we are only selling BS VI products. However, the complete runout of the BS IV models led to the unavailability of some of our key volume models which we could not deliver to our customers, during this quarter."

The Mercedes-Benz GLE SUV, which was launched in January 2020, continues to be a popular SUV in its segment. Mercedes-Benz is also preparing for the market introduction of the ‘S-Class of SUVs’  - the all-new GLS - which will be launched in India soon. The A-Class Limousine, which was showcased at the Auto Expo in February 2020, continues its overwhelming popularity with the pre-bookings even before its India debut.

Enhanced online sales focus with dealer integration
In view of the current situation, Mercedes-Benz India has strengthened its online offering and is collaborating closely with its retail partners to jointly address this challenging situation and to offer them advice and support in order to best serve its customers.

Customers can visit the online store www.shop.mercedes-benz.co.in to book their car with an innovative home delivery option available. Mercedes-Benz India expects a significant part of its total sales to be completely online by 2025.

Currently, the option is available for pre-owned cars only and it will soon be available for new Mercedes-Benz cars as well. Almost all dealers in the country, are already part of the portal and enabling customers in their online buying journey, including delivery and complete customer services support.

Also read: Mercedes-Benz sells 477,400 cars worldwide in Q1 2020, down 15%