THE FIRST LUXURY A-CLASS MERCEDES BENZ

The Mercedes-Benz A-Class is a supermini, now a small family car, produced by the German automobile manufacturer Mercedes-Benz. The new

Mercedes Benz is betting big on its foray into the luxury compact car segment with as many as five models due for the rollout in the Indian market. The company is all set to launch a diesel version of its B-class, the new A-class as well as the GL-class over the next one month with the compact SUV GLA and 4-door coupe CLA due for debut later. The compact focus is part of the Germany Company’s global strategy to grow its geographical footprint and target younger customers in market both traditional and new and Mercedes Benz is backing it up with a new engineering strategy to make affordable products in what could be a big volume segment.

“Mercedes Benz has a clear plan of attack,” said Jorg Prigi, VP-product group compact cars development.  “We expect new growth to come from the compact segment since it will open up new markets like China and the U.S and fetch volumes in markets like India and Brazil which will be completely new for that segment. India and Brazil have potential provided we make products specific to these markets and manufacture locally.”

Mercedes was hit by the absence of the compact SUV to take on the BMW X1 which totted up big volumes for its Germany rival. That explains for the need for speed – “by 2015 we will have entire compact range in India,” said Kern. But more than speed and positioning.

For now though the range will start off being completely imported to capture the first mover advantage. “The A-class will be the first luxury hatchback in the Indian market,” said Eberhand Kern, MD and CEO, Mercedes Benz India. “We are targeting younger customers with the A-class, B-class, CLA and GLA. Currently Mercedes Benz has a pool of 40,000 customers in India and their family might think of this range as an option. We will decide later on which cars to produce locally,”

There’s a reason why Mercedes Benz is going all out of in search of volume despite the current slowdown dogging the Indian market. Like SUV’s, luxury cars too have managed to buck the sentiment downturn and the segment comprises less than 2% of the Indian car market.”By the 2020, we expect the luxury segment share to go up to 4% of a seven million unit car market or around 280,000 units a year,” declared Kern. “Which means we expect the luxury car market to grow to roughly ten times its current size. India is the one of the major strategic markets for Mercedes Benz,” Given that the Indian business is now profitable – a huge improvement from the time when it had become a BIFR case- the company is now trying to change its business mix to nip ahead of arch rivals Audi and BMW ,”We are planning that when all the cars are available, the new generation will comprise 40% of our business in India- the biggest chunk alongside sedans and SUVs which now command 80% and 20% of our sales respectively.”