Mercedes-Benz eyes 'substantial' growth in India

New Delhi: German luxury carmaker Mercedes-Benz expects 'substantial' growth in India this year driven by a lineup of 15 products and sustained demand recovery being witnessed from the fourth quarter of last year, according to a top company official.

The company, however, sees reaching its peak level of 2018 in India, only in 2022, due to supply-chain constraints especially in Europe. "Overall, I think we can really assume that the momentum which we have seen in the fourth quarter is continuing... With the reduction of Covid cases a lot of normalcy has happened. We have seen very strong demand in all our range. "I would think the festive season plus new products have triggered that, and would continue in 2021," said Mercedes-Benz India Managing Director and CEO Martin Schwenk.

He was responding to a query on the company's outlook for the ongoing calendar year. Schwenk further said, "We have 15 products in our pipeline. With (the ongoing) demand we should have a good chance for recovery and substantial growth in 2021." In 2020, the company had reported 43 per cent decline in sales at 7,893 units in India, as compared to 13,786 units sold in 2019. Giving a perspective of how the demand recovery has been steady and strong in the second half of 2020, he said, "We have seen in the fourth quarter of 2020, a 40 per cent increase compared to the third quarter."

In the first quarter of 2020, the company had sold 2,386 units and it plummeted to just 563 units in Q2 due to the lockdown. It sold 2,058 units in the third quarter and in the fourth quarter clocked 2,886 units, a growth of 40 per cent as compared to the preceding quarter.