Demand for luxury cars is bucking the slowdown trend in the domestic automobile industry. The new launches and increasing number of high net worth individuals in the country has resulted in a substantial increase in demand for luxury cars. Consequently, Mercedes Benz, leading player in the luxury car segment, witnessed a growth of 45% in sales during the first quarter ended June 30 and BMW India registered a growth of 95% in sales during this quarter.
“New launches that includes the MY 08 3-Series in May has helped us to register a robust growth during this period as there is huge demand for BMW 3-Series and 5-Series which are manufactured at the company?s plant in Chennai,” said Peter Kronschnabl, president, BMW India. The company has registered a growth of 95.95% in sales in the first quarter of this fiscal at 629 units as compared to 321 units during the same period last year.
“In just seven months ending July, the company has delivered 1,763 units. Consequently, we are now revising the sales target for 2008 by upward of 40% from 2000 units earlier to 2800 units now,” he said while inaugurating the BMW Studio in India, the first of its kind in the world. Even Mercedes Benz India, which is present in the domestic market with C-Class, E-Class and S-Class vehicles, registered a growth of 45.24% during April-June at 748 units vis-?-vis 515 units in the corresponding period last year.
Audi India, which has ventured into the country with Audi A8, Audi Q7, Audi A6, Audi A4 and Audi TT, posted over two-fold jump in sales in the first seven months of this year at 595 units, against 226 units in the same period a year ago. “The number of high net worth individuals in the country has been rising and so is the demand for luxury cars as this segment is little impacted by fluctuations in inflation,” said a Mumbai-based analyst, adding that however, people have now become more conscious of products that give them value for money.