Mercedes Benz eyes No 1 spot in luxury car mkt

Meet Peter Honegg, the new MD and CEO of Mercedes Benz India. He's spent three months at the helm, and his number-one agenda
is to overtake BMW and regain pole position in the Indian luxury car market.

"My immediate role is to enhance the company's presence and consolidate its presence. I want to work very hard to get back to our number one position," he said.

To do this, sources say he has a long to-do list:

• One: Set up brand centres across India. The first one will come up in Delhi in March.
• Two: Expand the development centre in Bangalore, and double head count there to 1,200 by the end of the year.
• Three: Drive the A-Class and B-Class into India soon.
• Four: Develop a small car platform for India at its R&D centre in Bangalore.
• Five: Introduce smaller engines on its C-Class and E-Class platforms.

"I can"t confirm or deny it; we are working on our product portfolio and will do what customers want," Honegg said.

Mercedes will also re-launch the Maybach on the first of February. This, despite selling only three cars the last time. It will also roll out the new c-class and the s-class by the year-end.