German luxury car manufacturer, Mercedes-Benz rolled out it top-end of its luxury E-class sedan in a diesel variant – E-350.
The car was launched in Pune on Thursday and is priced at Rs 57.42 lakh (ex-showroom Pune). It is Mercedes-Benz India’s (MBIL) eighth launch this year of the earlier announced plans to launch 10 vehicles in calendar 2014. MBIL’s E-class portfolio in India includes the E200, E250 and E63 AMG.
Speaking to this correspondent, Eberhard Kern said all the models have both petrol and diesel variants though petrol variants account for a fifth of sales. Labeled `Intelligent Superpower’, the car has on board several intelligent drive assist systems like auto parking assist and attention assist.
"There is a high demand for the E-class which has traditionally been our highest selling segment. We have sold more than 25,000 units of E-class since it entered the market in 1995. The E-350 closes the gap that existed in our portfolio."
While MBIL sales grew 25 per cent in the first half of 2014, Mr. Kern said he was confident of a "double digit" growth in the second half of the year as well. "Generally the market was not so good for the last two years but in the last four months there is hope and a positive sentiment although in the luxury car market per se, it is difficult to judge as not all players are reporting sales numbers."
MBIL makes the S, E, C, GL and M-Class at its Chakan facility near Pune which has a capacity of 20,000 units per annum. The E-350 too will be made here as well and Mr. Kern said the CLA-Class will also be made from Pune in 2015. MBIL plans to launch the GLA-Class in the festive season and Mr. Kern was confident of a good response.
