German luxury carmaker Mercedes Benz has firmed up plans to locally assemble a second electric vehicle in the country enthused by demand for these cars, which have received bookings totalling INR 400 crore in the past couple of weeks.
The company, which launched Mercedes Benz Maybach EQS680 SUV priced at INR 2.37 crore (on-road, Delhi) last week, has received 50 bookings for the top-of-the-line electric car. Mercedes has additionally received 80 bookings already for the electrified version of the G Wagon, which is slated to go on sale by the end of this year or early next year. Mercedes Benz EQG will be priced at INR 3.5 crore. The company’s total order bank for internal combustion engine (ICE) and electric models together stands at about 1800-2000 units, currently.
Mercedes Benz India Managing Director Santosh Iyer told ET, “There is currently no other option for emission free mobility than electrification. And we need to aid penetration by introducing electric cars at varied price points to our customers. The EQS SUV 580 will be the second electric vehicle that we assemble locally, which has helped us to price it competitively.” The EQS SUV 580 is priced at INR 1.41 crore.
India will be the only market outside of the United States to locally assemble the EQS SUV 580. Completely built-up units (CBU) attract customs duty of up to 110%, compared to 15% levied on vehicles assembled locally from knocked down kits (CKD).
With the launch of the EQS SUV 580 the company now has half a dozen EVs for sales in the country. “About 55% of all cars sold in India are now SUVs. So it was only logical for us to introduce an electric SUV. We expect penetration of electric vehicles in our portfolio to increase steadily with these launches”, Iyer informed.
Overall, the company has seen penetration of electric vehicles in its total sales double to 5% in the first half of the ongoing calendar year, over CY2023. EV sales for the company grew by 60% in this period, when total volumes rose 9% to 9,262 units.
