Mercedes-Benz India introduced two new sports cars – AMG GT 63 and GT63 PRO – priced at Rs 3 crore & Rs 3.65 crore respectively on Friday as its MD & CEO Santosh Iyer tells Swaraj Baggonkar, that there is no let-up in demand for the high-end segment despite the uncertainty around. Excerpts:
One in every four cars you sell are priced above Rs 1 crore. When do you see that rising to two in four?
If I were to not sell the other cars we can change the equation. We are not driven by a target-based approach on volumes. It is what the customer wants; what the brand stands for and what kind of product offering we are able to give. We are able to do much more, in the top-end of the spectrum, 60% of our cars are in the core segment like the E-Class.
The broader market is going through a slowdown in demand. How has the June quarter been for you?
The total market growth has been 5-6%. We will be releasing our numbers in the first week of July. We are able to see growth in this quarter as well in spite of all the geo-political challenges. What may be a dampener is the price increases which happened in January and then in June but that was because of the exchange rate. The RBI has reduced the interest rate which means that though the prices have gone up the EMI still remains the same.
What is the status of consumer enquiries flowing in at this point?
There is an increase in the number of enquiries compared to last year. The conversions may have become slow but that may be because of seasonality. There is a global turmoil triggering hesitation. The capital markets, real estate is doing well which is pushing up the buyer sentiment.
Why hasn’t Mercedes-Benz shown interest in the EV scheme launched by the government?
\The scheme is great for new players to come in. It demands an investment of Rs 4,500 crore. We have been in the market for 30 years and have invested Rs 3,000 crore already and we are already producing two EVs here. The scheme is more beneficial for players who are not in India and are yet to make the investment. There is no logical sense for us to add another Rs 4,500 crore to this investment.
Should it become fair for European players also by having a trade agreement between India and Europe?
We have always been a big supporter of FTA. We welcome India-UK, India-US and hopefully India-EU deals also. But the expectation about prices coming down is also a fallacy because 95% of the cars that we sell in India are locally produced with a duty of 15%. The balance is supercars. The GT that we launched today, the ex-factory price is cheaper in India than their European price.
In the EV segment you are behind BMW. What will be your move to become the top brand?
We never want to be number 1 in any segment because these are an outcome of what one does. If you have low price cars, you can gain leadership by pricing them differently. The January to May period saw the luxury EV segment grow by 66% but we have grown by 73%. The penetration in the luxury segment has grown to 11%. We have launched the G-Wagon Electric, EQS SUV, Maybach. So, the average selling price for Mercedes in the EV space will be multiple times of others.