Rising inflation coupled with acute liquidity crunch for auto finance is likely to impact sales of Mercedes-Benz India in the next few months. Amidst this grim scenario where input costs have also increased, the luxury car manufacturer is also not ruling out the option to increase the prices of its lavish machines.
Talking to FE, Sanjiv Sahajwala, director sales and marketing, Mercedes Benz-Indiasaid, ?Though we have registered a growth of 56% in sales in the first three quarters of this year as compared to previous year but percentage of auto financing has declined by 25% which has certainly affected us. This is a cause of concern and we are keeping a close watch to counter the slowdown. Though , the prices will remain stable this year but if needed they can be increased early next year?.
Mercedes-Benz sold 3,001 models in the first three quarters of this year, while the firm sold 1,912 units during the same period in previous year. Punjab is among the top three sellers of Mercedes since last ten years and contributes 7.5% to 8.2% to total revenue. Around 600 Mercedes cars are already running on Punjab roads and the company is aiming to sell around 285 units this year. Last year, 175 units of Mercedes were sold in the region, which also includes Chandigarh and a part of Haryana. The company is also scaling up aftersales assistance programme in the region to strengthen the customer base.
Talking about the emerging markets, Sanjiv Sahajwala said though Delhi and Mumbai were the two big important markets, there was a close race between Hyderabad, Chennai and Bangalore. He added there was a growing demand from cities like Kochi, Thiruvananthapuram and Madurai.
The company will be shifting to a new plant in the Chakan area of Pune from its existing plant in Chikhali, by the first quarter of 2009 to meet the enhanced demand conditions from the market. The auto major has also firmed up its plans for official launch of its AMG variants and its van Viano before the end of this year.