The German carmaker announced its best-ever quarterly sales for the January-March 2017 period. It sold 3650 units (up 1 percent year-on-year) during the quarter. This was courtesy the growing demand in the SUV segment.
Merc’s luxury SUV portfolio, which includes the GLA, GLC, GLE, GLE Coupe and the GLS, grew the highest - 13 percent in the quarter. The GLC emerged as the highest selling SUV for the brand, but the bigger GLE, GLE Coupe and the GLS also witnessed strong customer preference in the January-March 2017 period. As far as luxury sedans are concerned, the C-class, E-class and the S-class also performed as per expectations, with the E-class sedan re-emerging as the highest selling model for Mercedes-Benz in the Jan-Mar quarter. The all-new long wheelbase E-class had seen huge customer interest across markets with Mercedes unable to meet demand in a lot of cases.
The C-class sedan remained a significant volume contributor and was the second highest selling model of the quarter. The AMG and Dream Cars portfolio helped drive a rise in brand equity as well. Commenting on the Q1 2017 results (Indian entity follows the calendar year as per its German principal), Roland Folger, managing director and CEO, Mercedes-Benz India, said, “2017 began with a positive drive and we are confident of bettering our sales performance in the coming months. We are glad to witness growth re-emerging in Q1 2017. With new product introductions coupled with the availability of the all-new long wheelbase E-class, we are confident that our growth momentum continues.”