The luxury car market has been adversely impacted by the coronavirus crisis in the country. Mercedes-Benz India today announced that it has managed to retail just 2948 units in the H1 (January-June) the calendar year 2020. Compare this to 2019 and you will notice that the company sold 9915 units in the first nine months and the figure crossed the 10,000 mark by the end of the year. However, it's not only sales that has been impacted from the coronavirus crisis, but even production at its Chakan plant has taken a hit. Mumbai and Pune are among the cities that have recorded highest COVID-19 positive cases which has interrupted production at auto plants based in these regions.
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The new-Gen Mercedes-Benz GLS was launched in India last month
Martin Schwenk, Managing Director & CEO, Mercedes-Benz India commented, "We remain cautiously optimistic as we gradually ramp up our sales amidst the prevalent market challenges triggered by the pandemic. We are glad to witness a slow movement from previous months and we expect this trend to gather momentum. However recovery will be slow and we currently expect customer sentiments to revive going forward, though the market conditions would continue to remain challenging. Run-out of some of the key BS 4 volume models and also COVID-19 related restrictions lead to sales challenges in H1."
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The new Mercedes-Benz GLA will be launched in H2 of CY 2020.
According to the company, SUVs made up for 57 per cent of tota sales in June while the recently launched Mercedes-Benz GLS attributed to 22 per cent of the overall sales. Models like the Mercedes-Benz C-Class, E-Class and GLC remained the key volume drivers. The company is also looking forward to introduce the new Mercedes-Benz GLA and A-Class Limousine in India in the second half of this year which will help drive sales for the company
