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BMW is the new luxury car market leader in the country. The company sold 3,610 cars in calendar 2009, vrooming past Mercedes Benz which sold 3,247 cars. In the year before, Mercedes was the undisputed numero uno with 3,625 cars sold, way ahead of BMW (2,908 units).
Mercedes Benz is unfazed, and says it is not interested in leadership in India but is after higher profitability.
The 2009 data indicate Merc sales dropped by 10 per cent; and BMW sales improved by 24 per cent. India absorbed 9,000 luxury cars in 2009; the figure is expected to be 10,000 this year.
Mercedes Benz India managing director & chief executive officer Wilfried Aulbur said, “I don’t want to focus on leadership. We want to have profitable growth.”
The relegation, according to Aulbur, was because of a shortage of its E-class sedan. “We are behind BMW because of limited availability of the E-class,” he said.
Mercedes sold about 1,000 E-class cars and 1,600 C-class cars, its volume drivers in India. “We expect 2010 to be similar for both these segments.”
BMW sold 1,155 of its 3-series cars and 1,590 of its 5-series cars.
The Merc C-class and the BMW 3-series fall in the same price range of Rs 24 lakh to Rs 32 lakh. Their E-class and 5-series are in a class by themselves and come at Rs 38 lakh to Rs 48 lakh.
BMW India president Peter Kronschnabl wasn’t boasting either. Rather, he played the new position down, saying, “Now more than ever, we see that the number one position is not everything.”
Aulbur was optimistic about growth in 2010, on the back of new launches. “We expect a very strong two-digit growth this year. The luxury car market growth will overtake that of the passenger vehicle market,” he said.
Mercedes on Monday launched the Rs 95 lakh S500 Limousine, and the Rs 66 lakh to Rs 69 lakh GL350 CDI sports utility vehicle in the capital.
Another German luxury car manufacturer, Audi, remains in the third position. It sold 1,600 cars in 2009, against 1,050 cars in the year before.
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