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Indian Luxury Car Market Has Steady Sales
India's top 10 luxury car models, which are mainly dominated by Germany's Mercedes-Benz, BMW and Audi witnessed a sales growth of 57 percent between June 2009 and May 2010 as per JD Power and Associates. The Audi A6, the Mercedes Benz E-Class and the BMW 3 Series models saw more than 100 percent growth from last year. "This year has been Audi's most successful year in India," says Michael Perschke, Head, Audi India. The luxury brand of Europe's biggest car maker Volkswagen, has clocked sales of 1,876 cars for the period of January-August 2010, a growth of 66 percent as against January-August 2009 period.
BMW, which overtook Mercedes Benz last year to be the higher seller of luxury cars in India, felt better this year than the previous year. A BMW spokesman said that consumers were naturally concerned and their lack of confidence reflected in reluctance to buy new vehicles. That reluctance has disappeared. In August this year, the company sold 583 vehicles. In the same period last year, they had sold just 297. And the festive season is yet to begin.
Experts say they are not surprised at this spurt in sales, and new-found consumer confidence, which they say was bound to happen after India's economy grew by 8.8 percent compared to 6.7 percent growth the year before. Also, even though car prices have risen, people who have the kind of money to buy BMWs and Mercs are not exactly worried about a rise a few thousand more to pay.
Demand for luxury cars, is also driven by the young pack of ambitious entrepreneurs and executives who have the money and are spending and flaunting. "Entrepreneurs who made it early, and young successes in the corporate world also tend to buy new Mercs," says Wilfried Aulbur, managing director and chief executive officer of Mercedes-Benz India. Compare it with fifteen years ago when the consumers Mercedes targeted old-money, usually people aged over-45.
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