More than three years after losing the lead in India’s luxury car market, Mercedes Benz overtook Audi to dominate in the July-September quarter.
Mercedes booked 58% growth during the quarter to 2,696 units thanks largely to the launch of new small cars – A and B Class – earlier this year, the Hindustan Times reported. It sold 1,011 units in September, passing 1,000 in a month for the first time in almost two decades operating in India.
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“This is not a big surprise for us. We knew that the second half will be very good for us,” Eberhard Kern, managing director and CEO, Mercedes Benz India, told the paper. “In the first three months we grew by 5% and followed it up with a growth of 32% and 58% respectively in the following quarters. We are geared up for the festive season.”
Audi sales rose just 5% between July and September this year to 2,545 units. However, Audi, which overtook BMW to become the top luxury car maker last fiscal year, is still ahead of Mercedes for the first nine months of 2013. In that time, Audi sold 7,391 units – up 15% – compared with Mercedes’ 6,461 (31%).
“We are pleased to have consolidated our No. 1 position. We are confident that we will be the first luxury car manufacturer in the country to cross sales of 10,000 units in a calendar year,” said Audi India head Joe King.
