KOLKATA : Mercedes Benz India, the Indian arm of Daimler of Germany, is set to launch its premium AMG cars in India next week. The German giant
will also showcase its entire product range in the next quarter to reverse the trend after a 20% fall in growth in October sales.
?AMG cars are special, high-performance sports cars which are custom made for each consumer and start at least at Rs 1 crore and can go up to Rs 2 crore,? said Mercedes Benz India corporate affairs head and board member, Suhas Kadlaskar.
During October-November, Mercedes saw its sales dip 20% year-on-year to 175 cars. However, during January-September, the company reported an impressive 60% growth by selling 3,141 cars against 2,491 cars in the year-earlier period.
?The next quarter ? January-March 2009 ? will be critical for us. In a bid to hold on to growth rates, we have decided to showcase our entire product range and are now also focusing on tier-2 cities. There will be an increased number of events for showcasing our products,? Mr Kadlaskar said.
He admitted that markets are expected to remain depressed during 2009, but said the company would not go for a single layoff in India though its parent is reportedly moving towards a shorter working week for 47,000 employees in Germany. ?We have 450-500 people working in India. We are not going for any layoffs here,? he said.
|
