German luxury carmaker Mercedes-Benz India will now manufacture its electric sport utility vehicle (SUV), EQS SUV 580, in India, as the only market outside its Tuscaloosa plant in the US, as the company sees local demand for electric vehicles (EVs).
However, this is not the first electric vehicle that Mercedes will be manufacturing in India. The brand has already been manufacturing the EQS sedan in this country for the past 18 months and has sold 500 units of the vehicle.
The EQS 580 SUV is not currently available in India. The vehicle, which features a 122 kWh battery and a range of 809 km (on a single charge), will be priced at Rs 1.4 crore.
Santosh Iyer, Managing Director and CEO of Mercedes-Benz India, said they believed that having a complete portfolio (sedan and SUV) of the EQS range would help boost sales and offer a more comprehensive choice to the customer.
Iyer added that the EQS SUV is the third luxury electric vehicle launched by the company this year.
“Mercedes-Benz is deeply committed to the Indian market with an additional investment of Rs 200 crore by 2024 for manufacturing operations, new product launches and digitalisation of manufacturing processes. The localisation of the EQS SUV demonstrates our local competencies, creates value for Indian customers and supports the government’s vision of ‘Make in India’,” he added.
This brings Mercedes’ cumulative investment in manufacturing capacity in India to Rs 3,000 crore.
The German luxury carmaker has six electric vehicles: the EQA SUV, the EQB SUV, the EQE SUV, the EQS SUV, the EQS 580 sedan and the Mercedes-Maybach EQS 680 ultra-luxury SUV. Between January and September this year, the company launched the EQA, the EQS 580 SUV and the Mercedes-Maybach EQS 680 SUV – all electric vehicles – in India. Sales growth for electric vehicles is therefore expected to reach 60% in the first half of 2024.
In fact, the penetration of electric vehicles has doubled: from 2.5 percent of total sales at the end of 2023 to 5 percent in the first half of 2024.
Mercedes now has an order book of 2,000 cars in India and expects to end the year with double-digit growth.
In this regard, Mercedes recorded its best-ever sales in the first half of 2024, with 9,262 vehicles delivered between January and June this year, representing a year-on-year growth of 9%. Around 55% of this growth is accounted for by SUVs and 25% by premium vehicles (those priced above Rs 10 crore). Maybach was the fastest-growing product range in the first half of 2024, with a growth of 108%. The company has not shared a segment-wise sales breakdown.
Luxury carmakers are focusing on bringing more models that will be manufactured in India.
In early May, Tata Motors-owned British luxury brand Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) India began manufacturing completely knocked-down (CKD) units of the flagship Range Rover and Range Rover Sport vehicles outside Solihull in the UK. India thus became the first country since 1970 to manufacture the Range Rover and Range Rover Sport vehicles. Vehicles made in India saw prices cut by 18 to 22 percent, according to JLR.
JLR also plans to launch six new electric vehicles in India by 2030, starting with the Range Rover battery electric vehicle (BEV) next year.
First published: September 16, 2024 | 17:20 IS
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