At the launch of the new Mercedes Benz C-Class here in Delhi, the top management discussed not just about the facelift but many other issues pertaining to Mercedes Benz cars for India and the roadmap in 2012. With the inaugural Indian GP now just weeks away, Mercedes is eagerly looking for ways to piggyback on the F1 team’s participation to reshape the brand and transform the way India looks and thinks about a Mercedes Benz.
Mercedes Benz sees the F1 race as an opportunity as the other two German rivals do not participate at the highest level of motorsport.
Here are some of the information IndianAutosBlog.com was able to gather from the press conference
- Mercedes’s key attributes are Luxury and Sports performance, but in India Merc is known for its luxury more than its sports pedigree. The association with F1 in India and Buddh circuit in Noida will play important roles in the coming months as it repositions itself as luxury & sports brand. A new lease of marketing activities have been planned to this effect.
- Merc wants to tap every ounce of the demand during the festive season and will do so by launching two vehicles in the next four weeks (CLS and variants of existing cars?)
- It achieved 40% growth in first seven months of the year compared to the corresponding period last year
- Merc in India is present from 1997 and has over 35,000 cars running on our roads
- With 55 Service stations nationwide followed by a few more in the coming months Merc has the largest A.S.S network amongst the luxury car manufacturers.
- Two additional service stations coming up in Delhi very soon to reduce the burden of increasing vehicles on current service infrastructure
- Merc Portfolio Sales ratio in India: 2/3 Diesel cars and 1/3 Petrol Cars – so it isn’t only the Swifts and Figos that are finding petrol unfavorable.
- C-Class portfolio Ratio: 45% Petrol cars and 55% Diesel Cars, Petrol cars ratio increased because of availability of all new CGI technology – Marketing speak or legitimate claim? – you decide.
- Merc currently sells 200-250 units a month, Targets 300-350 units (overall) with new C Class.
- The new C Class has been launched in India in a period of 5 months off from its global launch. RHD conversion took time.
- No Plans for SMART cars in India, Merc doesn’t see a market for such products.
- Total of 600 CR Investment in Chakan Plant with lots of available space to boost capacity as and when required.
- More CBU-route cars expected to come through CKD route, Merc hinted that a couple of SUV’s expect it to be assembled in India next year. If you have been reading IndianAutosBlog, you’d know they are referring to the new M & GL Class.
What are your thoughts on Mercedes Benz India’s roadmap?
Our good friends over at Anything-On-Wheels have published spy shots of two forthcoming Volkswagen products from the streets of Pune. The first image is of the Volkswagen Polo upgrade with steering-mounted audio controls. Could we see Volkswagen upgrade equipment on all variants?
Will Volkswagen provide a four-cylinder diesel engine displacing under 1,500cc along with these upgrades? A four cylinder engine promises to deliver superior performance compared to a naturally imbalanced three-cylinder. They can reserve the 1.2 TDI for the base model and use it across the Up range next year.
The second vehicle spotted is the new Touareg. The Volkswagen Touareg isn’t exactly a saucy SUV as the role of a family SUV is played by other vehicles in the VW family like the Audi Q7 and the Porsche Cayenne. The brand strength of Volkswagen is only a fraction of a Porsche or an Audi.
We hear that BlueMotion technology will make it to the upgraded Touareg, but a hybrid variant, due to the high price of the battery pack, may not be sold in India.
Will Volkswagen re-launch both the improved models during the festival season?
Fiat India will be planning to facelift its two pillar offerings Linea and Punto in 2012. The Linea was put on the market back in January 2009 and the Punto followed about six months later. Over the last two years, both vehicles have received unpublicized mechanical improvements and powerful petrol variants.
The talk in town is that Fiat is mulling independent/exclusive dealerships in 2012. With new showrooms, Fiat has to present new products to get maximum traction. Fiat could start the lives of these two important cars in their facelifted form at stand-alone dealer points.
Whichever the case is the Linea and Punto would have completed three years in India in 2012. At this point, most car manufacturers opt for a cosmetic revamp to stay updated and give themselves another reason to invite customers and media to talk about their product. Since Punto’s launch, we have seen many new small cars and the next six months will see a few more.
click through for more details and images
As Mahindra&Mahindra plans to expand its product range from cars to SUVs to bikes, the company feels it is necessary to set up a new plant as the Chakan facility will be inadequate in the future.
The company has signed MOU to set up the plant on 400 acres at Cheyyar at an investment of Rs 1,800 crore. This will be the second plant for Mahindra&Mahindra. The new plant will be a single line plant, manufacturing one product.
M&M will start by setting up a testing facility on 150 acres, with an investment of Rs 100-Rs 150 crore. The company has planned an expenditure of 1,800 crores over the next seven years majority of which will be spent on the Chakan plant. Once that is complete, the company will turn its focus to the Cheyyar plant.
This should definitely come as a welcome announcement for the Tamil Nadu government as recently they have lost two important projects to Gujarat. First Ford India decided to back out of Tamil Nadu for the second plant and then Peugeot Citroen decided to move to Gujarat. These are two very important setbacks for a state the promises to be the Automotive hub of India.
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Mercedes Benz India launched two variants of the C-Class facelift today at the price of 29.79 lakh (C200 CGI petrol) and 32.30 lakh (C250 CDI diesel) ex-showroom, New Delhi. These prices are marginally lower than the previous C-Class range.
The first images of the C-Class facelift hit the internet late last year and the international unveiling took place in USA in January this year. IndianAutosBlog.com readers have been informed of all developments on the C-Class launch including spy shots and tentative launch dates.
Mercdes Benz C200 BlueEfficiency Avantgarde features
- Panaromic sunroof
- Attention assist
- Parking guidance
- Intelligent headlight
- LED daytime running lights
- Agility control Package
- Selective damping system
- Pre Safe and Neck Pro safety features
- Adaptive brakes with ABS and ASR
- Brake drying function
- Hill climb assist
- 7 speed Automatic transmission
click through for specifications and brochure
Force Motors recently entered the passenger car segment with the Force One SUV. Priced at approximately 11 lac ex showroom it is currently available only in two-wheel drive and a 4X4 variant is on its way.
Force Motors announced its plan of entering the MPV segment which we felt would be using the Force One platform. But a recent BSMotoring report claims that the Mercedes-Benz Viano, regarded as a very premium MPV in Europe, will be Force Motors’ vehicle to take on the Innova and Aria.
We assume our readers already know that even Force One is packed with Mercedes Benz technology. At this point, does it make you think that Force Motors cars will be the poor man’s Mercedes?
The second generation Viano, introduced back in 2004, is nearing the end of its life. Mercedes Benz will change assembly lines to produce the new model with new tools and dies.
Chances are that Mercedes Benz has sold the rights to Force Motors for producing the outgoing Viano MPV in India. Force can ship the entire assembly line of the old Viano into India and begin production either in late 2012 or early 2013.
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It’s finally official! Toyota India will drop a diesel engine in the Etios sedan and the Liva hatchback on September 9.
In an official quote to Economic Times, Sandeep Singh Deputy Managing Director Sandeep Singh (Marketing) -
Yes, we are launching the diesel variants of the two cars on September 9. We aimed to introduce the two versions in August, but had to postpone by a month due to the earthquake and tsunami in Japan
This should come as no surprise because we have many spyshots of the Etios diesel/Etios Liva diesel being tested on the roads of Bangalore. The extraordinary difference between petrol and diesel prices in India has inadvertently made the Indian automotive market a diesel dominated one.
Almost all car manufacturers are selling more diesel cars than petrol ones. And the ones who don’t have diesel engines up their sleeves are either in the process of introducing their diesel engines or struggling massively in sales.
The Etios brand was launched with a huge bang in India. The sedan broke all the records of pre bookings when it was launched. The waiting period extended to almost eight months on some specific variants. But slowly and steadily, the lack of diesel option started hurting the sales.
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