BMW overtakes Mercedes Benz in sales in Jan 2009

For almost more than a decade, Mercedes Benz held the number one position in India for most number of sales in the luxury car segment. But BMW overtook their arch rival selling 270 units in January 2009, whereas Mercedes Benz could only manage 170.

Sales for BMW began to show an upsurge ever since the company started local assembly of the 3-Series and 5-Series sedan in the Chennai plant from March 2007, thus making it substantially cheaper than their imported counterparts.

BMW who entered the Indian market two years ago will now be hoping to keep the sales momentum going for the rest of 2009.

While announcing the launch of the X6 model (a luxury SUV) Peter Kronschnabl, president, BMW India said, “We were able to take the lead in January thanks to the success of the 3 and 5-Series. Around April we will get a clearer picture of market demand and will be in a better position to predict on following months.”

2008’s sales numbers were evident of the fact that BMW was picking up in the market with 2908 units sold, the best since BMW’s launch, although their count was less than that of Mercedes’s 3621 units.

And when comparing the previous two financial years, BMW has shown a steep growth with their new 3 and 5 series sedans in India. They managed a whooping 994 unit’s sale as compared to 490 units in the same period last year. Both the models are in the range of Rs. 45 lakhs to Rs. 85.5 lakhs.

“Our customers are not that different from our competitors but the key to our success lies in the fact that we have been able to create the environment at our dealerships, service points, buying experience, which is on par with our global standards. Most of our 3-Series customers are young professional”, added Kronschnabl.

In January 2009, BMW launched 3 models in India – the new 7-series, the new 3-series and the diesel variant of X3. Now, BMW has launched their luxury SUV X6. The new car is priced at Rs 65.9 lakh for the diesel variant and Rs 82.9 lakh for the petrol model.

On the other hand, Mercedes had to delay the launch of its new E-class due to some technical glitches. Sources say that the launch is hampered in the process of converting the car into a right hand drive for markets like India.

Both companies have made special arrangements for financing their cars through tie-ups with banks and also through in-house financing arms. Although BMW has withdrawn the zero per cent interest rate offer, officials say that the company is working on different concepts along with the dealers.