Trying to meet festive season demand despite supply chain woes: Mercedes Benz India

Mercedes Benz

Mercedes Benz India on Wednesday said it continues to face supply chain challenges amid the festive season demand, which is likely to delay deliveries of its cars, particularly SUVs, to customers.

However, despite these constraints, the company is trying its best to deliver as many cars to customers during the period. The company also said that in January-September 2023, it delivered 12,768 cars, a growth of 11 per cent as compared to the year-ago period (11,469 cars) and sees strong demand for its cars during the festive season with more than 3,000 orders. Mercedes-Benz India earlier unveiled its 'Vision Mercedes-Maybach 6' concept car. "I think the demand is strong. We are seeing again some supply chain-related challenges more so on our SUV lineup– the GLC and the GLA, and therefore there are delayed deliveries expected," Mercedes-Benz India Managing Director and CEO, Santosh Iyer told PTI in an interaction.

The strong desirability for Mercedes Benz has helped the company sell 12,768 cars in January-September 2023, a y-o-y growth of 11 per cent, which continues the growth momentum for the company, he said. "The top-end vehicle (TEV) segment, comprising S-Class, Mercedes-Maybach, AMGs and EQS, which is a big driver for us grew 22 per cent. So almost double than the total growth that we have seen," he said. The sustained demand for both new and existing products across entry and core segments was the key to driving sales momentum in January-September 2023, according to the company.

But from the demand side, the company has more than 3,000 orders and it is hoping to cater to as many customers in the festive period, he said but emphasised that the biggest challenge is the supply chain constraints. "We thought the worst is behind us, but the supply chain challenges continue. We still have some risk coming out of certain components," Iyer said. These risks are "hitting" the company more on the SUV side — on GLA, GLC and GLS and the company is still facing challenges when it comes to supply of components and parts, Iyer noted. "Because of this, our production colleagues are not able to match up to the demand," Iyer said adding, "but in spite of all of this waiting (period), we are delivering cars and communicating with the customers (on deliveries)."

He said owing to the demand, there is a huge waiting period for GLS Maybach and 8-9-month waiting period for S-class Maybach. "We have for the first time got the design concept of 'Vision Mercedes-Maybach 6’ car to India to show the future design of Maybach," Iyer said. He also said the electric SUV EQS may come to India next year. The company announced the launch of 10 products in 2023, of which eight have already been rolled out while the remaining two are set to be launched next month, Iyer said. "We are not counting the unveiling of  'Vision Mercedes-Maybach 6' as a product launch because this is a design concept," he said.

"The growth momentum is there. We are able to see a strong demand for our cars and therefore we expect this growth to continue even towards the next year," Iyer said. Mercedes-Benz also announced its collaboration with Nita Mukesh Ambani Cultural Centre (NMACC) in the city to offer its customers exclusive experiences from the world of art, culture, fashion, and luxury. As part of this, its customers will get exclusive access to all the first shows that happen in NMACC besides diamond boxes, access to lounge access, among others, it said. The company said it has dedicated the entire October month as the 'Sustainability Month' with innovative initiatives planned to raise awareness on sustainability and sustainable practices.