Mercedes-Benz India Clocks Highest Ever Half-Yearly Sales In 2024

Mercedes-Benz India Pvt. has clocked its highest ever half-yearly sales as demand for luxury cars remained unabated.

The Bavarian carmaker sold 9,262 cars in the first half of 2024, as against 8,528 cars in the year-ago period—a growth of 9% year-on-year, according to a company statement on Monday. Its sports utility vehicles, or SUVs, comprised 55% of the volume. The top-spec variants made up 25% of sales.

What’s noteworthy, however, is the demand for electric cars—sales rose 60% year-on-year. Battery-powered cars now comprise 5% of sales for Mercedes-Benz India.

“New and updated products, elevated customer experience at retail and ease of ownership, combined with positive customer sentiments, boosted our best-ever sales performance,” Santosh Iyer, chief executive officer at Mercedes-Benz India, said in the statement. “With some of the most-awaited products lined up for the upcoming festive season, we expect the remaining quarters to continue the forecasted growth.”

On Monday, Mercedes-Benz launched the EQA 250+, its best-selling EV globally, in India at an ex-showroom price of Rs 66 lakh. 

The electric SUV gets a 70.5 kWh battery pack, which offers a claimed range of 560 km—good enough for 450 km in real-world conditions. The battery can be charged from 0 to 100% in a little over seven hours with a regular 11 kW AC wallbox charger. A 100 kW DC fast charger will juice up the car to 80% in less than 40 minutes. 

The powertrain makes 140 kWh of peak power and 385 Nm of peak torque and the 0-100 kmph sprint takes around 8.6 seconds. The car can reach a top speed of 160 kmph.

Separately, the company has updated the EQB 350 4M to a five-seater configuration. The electric SUV will now retail at an ex-showroom price of Rs 77.5 lakh.

That fits well with Mercedes-Benz’s product roadmap for India, where the company plans to launch six new cars in the second half of 2024 with an electric powertrain in each of the segments it caters to.

“Both these BEVs (EQA and EQB) promise to make EV ownership attractive, convenient and highly value-driven,” Iyer said. “Our BEV roadmap for India is ambitious, comprising the most versatile BEV portfolio, starting from the EQA up to the upcoming EQS Maybach SUV, by end of the year.”