Words by Afzal Rawuther
Luxury car makers in India found 2017 to be a mixed year overall, with some registering great sales numbers while some not so much. Audi India had a decent year but their sales figures grew by a marginal 2 percent. They managed to sell a total of 7876 units in 2017. This puts Audi India at the bottom of the heap when it comes to sales among the German trio of Mercedes-Benz, BMW and Audi. Audi India will be looking at changing that with the new Q5 set to be launched this month. BMW India however had a strong year with a growth of 25 percent year-on-year and managed to sell a very impressive 9800 units. BMW Motorrad entering the country in April last year had a good year too, with 252 bikes being sold in the first nine months.
A relatively new entrant into the sector, Jaguar Land Rover has been making its presence felt in the luxury car market and its new product launches like the Jaguar XE and F-Pace and the Land Rover Discovery Sport have been helping JLR make large strides as far as sales are concerned. Its sales grew by a whopping 49 percent to 3954 units in 2017. However, it was Mercedes-Benz that stole the show. The three-pointed star was the brand of choice by a huge margin. Mercedes-Benz clocked a sales total of 15330 units in 2017, over 5500 units more than BMW. The last few years have been the story of a great turnaround of the brand’s fortunes in India. Languishing at the bottom among the German three, Mercedes was struggling with sluggish sales. However, a slew of new product launches has changed that and the brand is now the clear leader.