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According to Roland S Folger, smaller Indian cities are witnessing higher growth while metros are showing greater preference for coupes and convertibles.
Managing Director & CEO of Mercedes Benz-India, Roland S Folger has stated how the company is expecting future growth majorly from small cities in the conventional luxury category while metros will be steadily graduating towards more specific propositions such as luxury coupes and convertibles. According to him, the brand has got results by investing in dealers and outlets with an expansion to 15 dealerships in 2015. This takes the number of outlets to 80 spread over 39 Indian cities.
According to Folger, an increase in the number of offerings has sparked higher volumes for the company in India and this strategy will be followed in 2016 as well. The company has made a strategic shift into several price sensitive segments like GLA and CLA which have offered substantial growth for the company. Premium pricing is maintained by the company as it secures customer investments. Discounting hits residual values in the long term. Higher residual value is kept owing to the attractive financing options offered to customers. Customer satisfaction and close collaborations with dealerships are factors that have helped the brand post greater success.
Currently, sales figures for the company stand at around 45% in Mumbai and Delhi while growth is being witnessed in new markets. The company is betting on tier-III markets to fuel the next levels of growth and expansion. Among these emerging new markets are Coimbatore and Calicut (Kozhikode). AMG as a category is also growing rapidly and has grown by a whopping 37% between January and September 2015. Five new AMG products have been launched in 2015 and this takes the AMG stable to 10 in India. AMG versions contribute around 1% of total sales volumes and demand is immensely high in this segment.
According to Folger, the company should be witnessing its highest sales figures in 2015 and ended its third quarter at 10, 079 units which is close to the overall sales figures for 2014. Sales have grown by 34% till the third quarter and SUVs have been the major growth driver for the company this year with 70% growth figures being achieved by some models as well. The company estimates growing customers including new generations of heirs and millionaire families which will scale up the luxury market.
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