Merc, Audi, BMW eye robust sales this festive season

NEW DELHI: Luxury carmakers Mercedes-Benz, Audi and BMW are eyeing robust sales during the festive period this year with demand for high-end cars continuing to see an upward trend in India.

Mercedes-Benz India MD and CEO Santosh Iyer said the luxury car segment is set for its best-ever performance this year with festive season offtakes playing a key role in the overall performance.

He noted the festive season generally gives high double-digit sales growth, helping the automaker to average out single-digit growth of the earlier quarter.

“So in that sense, on an average, then we are able to get a double-digit growth during the festive season,” Iyer stated.

Elaborating on the overall industry, which still remains a small part of the overall passenger vehicle market in the country, he said the segment is headed for record volumes this fiscal year but not all players are witnessing growth. “Some are even de-growing, some are flat and they are facing headwinds, but because we are the primary player in the market, we still feel the luxury car market should cross 50,000-51,000 cars this year,” Iyer said.

The luxury car market in India currently remains small accounting for less than 2 per cent of the overall passenger vehicle market in the country.

Audi India Head Balbir Singh Dhillon said the demand in the last few months has grown steadily and the company expects this to continue in the period ahead. “We are working relentlessly with our HQ to get additional allocations for India, to fulfil this growing demand.”

With the upcoming festive season, Audi is expecting good growth on the back of sustained demand models like A4, A6, Q5, Q7 and Q8.

BMW Group India president Vikram Pawah said the fundamentals of the economy are sturdy and consumer confidence in the luxury segment is on the rise. “For us, the order bank is solid and we are trying our best to speed up deliveries for our customers. Along with additional bookings around Deepavali and Dussehra, we are confident of closing the year on a high note with impressive growth.”

Mercedes-Benz India has pitched for a common platform to provide real-time information about all available charging stations operated by different service providers to make it more convenient for electric vehicle owners. Santosh Iyer pointed out that the common app would go a long way in enhancing customer convenience and help in pushing electric vehicle adoption in the country. Iyer noted that there is a need to democratise charging infrastructure for electric vehicles.

“Today, if you buy an electric car, you need 3-4 different apps on your phone. What we are requesting the government is to come up with something like a UPI-based system,” Iyer said. India is a leader in digital technology, but when it comes to charging, there are still multiple apps, he stated. “They (apps) don’t talk to each other...payment gateways are not in sync..if it can be solved the convenience of EVs will be next level,” Iyer said. If the system is made convenient, customers will shift to EVs but if it remains difficult then they might want to stay out of the segment, he said. Government needs to come up with a platform and then all aggregators need to be there, he said. “Lets have at least one platform for payment and charging stuff,” Iyer said.