The German luxury automaker Mercedes-Benz has announced that it is prepared to invest the required $500 million in Indian businesses, a significant boost to the government’s EV Strategy . However, the automaker stated that if the 5% Goods and Services Tax (GST) on EVs remains in place for the next ten years, it will simply invest the required amount as specified in the EV policy.
Mercedes is trying to position the EQA 250+ as a value proposition for its consumers — it will come at equated monthly instalments (EMIs) of Rs 68,000 for four years with a 20 per cent down-payment and the 67 per cent assured buyback at the end of four years. Compared to its ICE counterpart, the total annual savings is estimated to be around Rs 240,000 at the end of four years if the vehicle is driven for roughly 2000 km per month, the company said.
Iyer said that they produce their BEVs in India and have achieved a 30 per cent localization. Other geographies (outside of Germany) where they have localized EV production include Thailand and Malaysia. “We were the first luxury OEM (original equipment manufacturer) in India to launch an EV in 2019,” Iyer said.
As such, Mercedes posted its best-ever H1 calendar sales in H1CY24, delivering 9,262 cars between January and June this year. This is a 9 per cent Y-o-Y growth. Around 55 per cent of this comes from SUVs, and 25 per cent from top-end vehicles (those priced above Rs 1 crore). The Maybach was the fastest-growing portfolio in H1CY24 — clocking 108 per cent growth. The company did not share segment-wise breakup of sales.