German luxury carmaker Mercedes-Benz anticipates India to be its fastest-growing market internationally for this year, repeating the feat it accomplished last year. Mercedes-Benz India, which had planned to debut 10 new models this year, is delaying some of them till the second and third quarters of 2023 (calendar year) owing to supply chain difficulties, in order to prevent further expanding the waiting period for its goods.
In a recent interview the Managing Director and CEO of Mercedes-Benz India, Santosh Iyer, expressed his optimism about India's economic growth. According to Iyer, India is shining bright among all other countries, as evidenced by global reports that indicate sustained growth in the first two months of the year. While it may be too early to predict the full-year outcome, Iyer noted that the initial results are strong and positive compared to other markets worldwide.
Mercedes-Benz India increased its sales by 41% in 2022, selling 15,822 cars compared to 11,242 units in 2021. Its previous high sales were 15,583 copies in 2018.
Iyer stated that, in terms of volume, other advanced markets, such as the United States, which have also seen the effects of Covid-19, are far larger than India, and even normal growth there implies a huge number of volumes.
Iyer, on domestic demand momentum mentioned that it is fairly robust for several of the car lines and Mercedes still has an order bank surpassing 4,000 cars.
Iyer further mentioned that Mercedes is increasing its input and as a result, they are not releasing new vehicles in the quarter. Out of the ten vehicles which Mercedes planned out in the year 2023 they were only able to complete the E Cabriolet in the first quarter. Iyer further added that moving ahead in the second and third quarters of the year there will be more focus on the delivery of the cars and production of other cars.
Speaking on the long waiting period Iyer mentioned that long waiting periods may lead to the cancellation of delivery. Iyer also said that Mercedes focuses on delivering more cars to the market and the company is also working on minimizing the waiting period from six months to 2-3 months.
