Mercedes-Benz India launches G-class in two variants bets big on top-end segment

Mumbai: German premium car manufacturer Mercedes-Benz India on Thursday rolled out its iconic SUV, the G-Class, in two variants, with a price tag of Rs 2.55 crore onwards.

The two variants of the top-end segment G-Class are G 400d Adventure Edition and the G 400d AMG Line.

The Top-End Vehicle (TEV) segment accounts for more than a quarter in Mercedes-Benz India portfolio and it is expected to continue with very high double-digit growth, Mercedes-Benz India Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer Santosh Iyer told PTI in an interaction on Thursday.

"There is a lot of demand coming in from the top-end customers. The TEV segment will continue to grow with very high double-digit growth. Overall, we grew at 17 per cent (in Q1CY2023) and the TEV segment is expected to grow more than that in the second quarter of the year," Iyer said.

The deliveries of both the variants -- G 400d Adventure Edition and the G 400d AMG Line -- are expected to commence from October-December quarter of 2023, Mercedes-Benz India said.

The company also said that the booking for the new G 400d will be first made available exclusively for existing Mercedes-Benz customers.

It also said that the deliveries will be based on exclusive allocations for the Indian market owing to the high demand for this iconic off-roader.

The company leads the segment in the super performance category which includes the AMG GT, and today it is launching the G400, he said.

Besides G63 AMG and S Class Maybach 600 models are also part of the company's TEV segment.

"(all) combined, we exceed more than 600-700 cars in this segment which is a significant number," he said.

"The G-Class has been a highly anticipated luxury lifestyle vehicle for Indian customers and its launch reiterates our aim of offering them the 'most desirable' vehicles from our global portfolio," said Iyer.

The priority allocation of the G 400d for the Indian market underlines the success of our TEV (top-end vehicle) strategy, moving in the right direction, he added.

Mercedes-Benz India also said this segment remains a key focus area for the company, with more than half of the upcoming launches in this year planned for this segment.

Noting that top-end vehicles remain its constant focus, as the segment continues to draw outstanding responses from customers, the company said, "the addition of G 400d further enhances Mercedes-Benz's desirable TEV portfolio for the Indian market." Overall the growth has primarily been driven by the TEV segment but also by the core luxury segment including the E-Class and the GLE, he said.

Mercedes-Benz India sales in the first quarter grew 17 per cent at 4,697 units in the January-March quarter of this year compared to 4,022 units retailed in the corresponding quarter of 2022.

"We saw a bit of flat growth in the luxury segment because the GLC which is our largest selling model (in the SUV segment) was also not available and we had some product shortages there. But hopefully, when we launch GLC in the second half of the year, even that gap should be closed," Iyer said.

The launch of the vehicle had to be delayed because of logistical challenges but we should be launching the new GLC in the third quarter of the year, he said.

The largest selling car for the company is E-Class long wheelbase sedan, while sedans-SUVs share in the product portfolio remain at 50:50, according Iyer.

Noting that on average the waiting period for the Mercedes-Benz India cars ranges between two months to as long as two years with the G63 AMG model to be available only in 2025, he said.

The company has been able to reduce the waiting period for cars like the E-Class and the C-Class to a large extent due to increased production, but when it comes to specialty cars and top-end cars it still has a shortage of kits, according to him.

"So there are still higher waiting periods given the significantly higher demand also in this segment. In this segment, customers are willing to wait also as they understand that there is a global waiting period for these cars," Iyer said.