Mercedes sales growth in India in 2008

Even as the car market in India sees a recessionary trend of late, luxury car brand Mercedes-Benz India has managed to sell as many as 3,625 passenger cars in the country during year 2008.

The number, which shows a clear 46 per cent growth over the figures registered in year 2007, comes as a positive hint for the car makers who are vying with each other to outdo each other. According to statistics, the new Merc C-Class, which debuted in India during January 2008, has turned out to be a best seller among luxury sedans in the whole of the country. The model, powered by locally manufactured petrol and diesel variants, saw as many as 1756 units change hands during the January-December 2008 period. This incidentally is more than double of 2007 C-Class sold in 2007. Records state that as many as 779 C-Class models were sold in year 2007.

Meanwhile, the Merc S-Class is said to have extended its popularity posting impressive growth figures during the year. Company statistics said that it clocked record sales of 561 units during the whole of year 2008. This in fact comes about as a 23 per cent growth over the 457 units of S-Class sold in 2007. Yet another model, the E-Class made much of customer enthusiasm to post a record performance in 2007 by selling 1167 units , a clear 3 per cent gain over the previous year.

And this isn?t all. Completely Built Imported cars from the car maker ?saw good buyers in India , with the bunch recording 20 per cent gains over year 2007. The most popular in the category proved to be the M-Class, having sold 82 units. Meanwhile, the SLK-Class, CLS-Class, SL-Class and CL-Class also found a good market in India during the year.