JOIN USMercedes-Benz on Thursday launched its locally produced SUV GLC from its Chakan plant with a commitment of coming up with four more products by the end of this year.
Exuding confidence that the Indian market is in its growth phase, Mercedes-Benz India Managing Director and CEO Roland Folger said the launch of the GLC marks the company’s Make in India initiative, a milestone in the journey of the company.
“GLC is the ninth product from Mercedes-Benz to be locally produced after Mercedes-Maybach S500, S-Class, E-Class, C-Class, GLS, GLE, GLC, GLA and CLA. Our local production helps us make our customer the winner by passing on the benefit to them,” he said.
Folger said that local manufacturing has not brought down the quality of the product.
“We have brought more stringent quality criteria here at our Chakan plant. We began the local production of our cars in 1995 with the E-Class. India is the first market outside the United States to locally produce the Mercedes SUV,” he said.
The GLC is available in both petrol and diesel variants in the price range of Rs 47.90 lakh to Rs 51.90 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi).
The GLC is launched in three variants that include GLC 220 d 4MATIC Style, GLC 220 d 4MATIC Sport and GLC 300 4MATIC Sport.
While the GLC 220 d 4MATIC Style is priced at Rs 47.90 lakh, the GLC 220 d 4MATIC Sport and the GLC 300 4MATIC Sport are priced at Rs 51.50 lakh and Rs 51.90 lakh (all prices ex-showroom Delhi), respectively. The CBU range of the GLC starts at Rs 50.7 lakh (ex-showroom Pune).
Folger said that the diesel ban has affected sales of products, especially in the northern market. “We sold 6,597 units in the first half of this calendar year compared with a total of 13,502 units in the same period last year. We expect to register the same growth in the second half of this year compared with the same period in the last year,” he added.
Mercedes-Benz also offers service packages as part of the launch. The compact service packages start at Rs 63,000 for the petrol variant and Rs 78,000 for the diesel variant. These new compact packages are offered with unlimited mileage (a first in the luxury car segment) covering maintenance related jobs.