German luxury carmaker Mercedes-Benz on Tuesday reported a 13 per cent year-on-year growth in its sales at 8,528 units in India in the first half of 2023, its best-ever half-yearly sales in the country.
Mercedes Benz India had sold 7,573 units in the January-June period in 2022.
There was very high demand for TEV (top-end vehicle) segment priced above Rs 1.5 crore in H1 2023 at 2,000 units, a growth of 54 per cent, it added.
"One out of four Mercedes-Benz sold in H1 2023, belongs to the TEV segment," the company said.
In the second quarter of 2023, Mercedes-Benz India said its sales were also its highest-ever Q2 sales in India at 3,831 units, an 8 per cent growth over 3,551 units in the year-ago period.
"The 54 per cent growth in the TEV segment is quite strong and that has been our focus. We also introduced five new products this year in the TEV segment. The focus on the segment and the customer base there really helps us to grow," Mercedes-Benz India Managing Director & CEO, Santosh Iyer told PTI.
The growth in the TEV segment is despite the long waiting period, which ranges from 6 to 24 months, he added.
A younger, well-travelled and discerning customer base, who are ready to wait for their cars and plan their purchases well in advance have been fuelling the growth of such top-end luxury vehicles, Iyer said.
Mercedes-Benz India's TEVs portfolio include S-Class Maybach, GLS Maybach, top-end AMGs, S-Class and GLS SUV.
On the overall record sales of the company in H1 and Q2, Iyer said these were driven by "high desirability of the brand, an attractive portfolio, increased availability of cars and successful implementation of the 'Retail of the Future' business model".
"These numbers are also in spite of GLC (one of the popular selling models of the company) not being there for the first half of the year, which now we will introduce in quarter three," he added.
On the outlook for the rest of the year on the back of H1 sales, he said, "As we predicted and planned, we had a double digit, 13 per cent growth in the first half of the year. So that puts us on track for another record year... from an outlook perspective, we feel that our double-digit growth story should continue for the second half of the year and for the full-year as well."
He further said, "our biggest priority now for H2 or specifically for quarter three is to launch a new generation GLC and introduce this car before the festive season."
In the first quarter of 2023, Mercedes-Benz India had posted sales of 4,697 units, a 17 per cent growth over the year-ago period. The company, which posted record sales in 2022 at 15,822 units, had sold over 3,500 units of TEVs, growing at 69 per cent.