Mercedes-Benz sales to touch 2019 levels in H2 of 2021
The automaker is under pressure because of supply chain constraints and a sharp rise in import duty on spare parts
New Delhi: Mercedes-Benz India Pvt. Ltd, the country’s largest luxury vehicle manufacturer, has been witnessing steady improvement in demand since October and expects the sales of its vehicles to touch the 2019 level in the second half of 2021, provided the recent surge in covid-19 cases does not lead to any disruption in production, Martin Schwenk, the company’s managing director, said in a interview.
Notwithstanding the revival in demand and sales, the German manufacturer is under pressure because of factors such as shortage of critical parts, which has delayed introductions of important products, and a sharp rise in import duty on spare parts and commodity prices, which has forced the company to increase the prices of its products.
Automakers across segments had been witnessing a continuous decline in sales from the second half of FY19 because of an economic slowdown triggered by the bankruptcy of Infrastructure Leasing and Financial Services Ltd and an increase in prices of vehicles as a result of the transition to new safety and emission norms.
The company has been positively surprised by the demand situation and in certain instances is not able to supply cars to the customers, Schwenk said. Overall, demand has been stable since the December quarter of 2020.
“Because of some supply constraints we are having in this quarter and delay in the ramp up of A Class and GLA, we will not see the same sales numbers in total as 2019. However, as soon as we are able to fulfil the demand, in the second half of the year, I am confident that we will be at similar levels (as 2019)," he said.
The German luxury vehicle manufacturer witnessed a 43% decline in sales to 7,893 units in 2020 as the covid-19 pandemic disrupted sales.
“We wanted to bring the A Class and the GLA much earlier and now we have a new schedule. I believe we can remain on that schedule, which means that we bring the A Class on 25 March and the GLA a little bit later. So far we don’t see any further delay but then there is the pandemic situation and any production disruption will change the picture to negative," Schwenk said.
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