Daimler expects Mercedes-Benz sales in India to rival the UK within a decade as rising wealth spurs demand.
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“India is growing very strongly,” Wilfried Aulbur, head of the Indian sales and assembly unit, told Bloomberg News. The country “should be up there with the UKor other large European markets” in eight to 10 years, he said.
“Given that money is now easy, Indians want luxury cars and they want them now,” Deepesh Rathore, managing director of IHS Automotive in New Delhi, told the news agency. Nationwide luxury car sales may surge to 65,000 vehicles in 2020 from an expected 13,000 this year, he said.
Daimler sales in India surged 84% in the first eight months of the year to 3,497 units, Aulbur said. Mercedes-Benz sales in the UK rose 9.4% to 44,794 in the same period, according to the SMMT.
“As people make more money and as opinions and attitudes change, they are much more prone to spending on luxury vehicles,” Aulbur said. “This represents a tremendous opportunity going forward.”
