Mercedes-Benz rolls out Made-in-India S-class from Chakan plant

Mercedes-Benz rolled-out the ‘Made-in-India’ S-Class from the assembly lines of its production facility in Chakan and it is priced at Rs 1.57 crore for the S 350d and Rs 1.62 crore for the S 450 (ex-showroom, India). 

Although the latest-gen S-Class has already been on sale in India since June this year, it was only available as a fully imported model and was priced at Rs 2.17 crore for the S 400d and Rs 2.19 crore for the S 450. With local assembly, prices of the S-Class diesel have dropped by a whopping Rs 60 lakh while the petrol variant is now Rs 55 lakh cheaper.

The production highlights of the ‘Made in India S-Class includes more than 80 control units, electronically tested and initialised, use of ML and AI in enhancing testing systems, contactless wheel alignment process, new assembly process for the seamless door handles for ensuring enhanced customer comfort and aerodynamics of the car.

The most notable change on the exterior of the locally assembled S-Class is that it is now available in standard guise with more sedate looking front and rear bumpers. Additionally, it also gets a new design for the 19-inch alloy wheels.

Inside, the S-Class continues to come with features such as a 12.3-inch digital instrument cluster, a 12.8-inch portrait-oriented OLED touchscreen with Mercedes-Benz’ latest MBUX software that also feature facial, voice and fingerprint recognition, 64-colour active ambient lighting, electronically adjustable front and rear seats with message functions, and rear front airbags. There is also the chauffer package, that allows rear seats to recline and brings up the leg rest, while also allowing passengers to move the co-driver seat forward to create more space.The CBU's Burmester 4D surround sound system has been replaced by the Burmester 3D sound system.

Speaking on the roll-out, Martin Schwenk, Managing Director and CEO, Mercedes-Benz India highlighted the India specific features in the vehicle, “We are for instance, introducing for the first time, an innovative ‘car to x communication’ for the Indian market, which is tailor made for specific conditions and set a new benchmark in modern day use of telematics in cars, enhancing comfort and safety.”   

With inputs from Saptarshi Mondal, Autocar India