Mercedes-Benz, a premium car manufacturer, has staked a lot on the expanding Indian market for electric vehicles and anticipates that in three years, its present and future EV sales would increase from their current levels of three to four percent to 25 percent. The latest petrol/diesel SUV, the GLC, was introduced by Mercedes-Benz on Thursday in Hyderabad.
Santosh Iyer, Managing Director and CEO of Mercedes-Benz India, stated that the automaker intends to introduce three to four EVs in India over the next 12 to 18 months.
“For India as well we feel that there would be a rapid adoption as and when new cars launch, and at this stage we are looking at three to four new EVs in the next 12 to 18 months time. So, slowly but surely we should increase penetration. And in the next three years we feel that 25 percent of our sales would be EVs in India as well,” Iyer told PTI.
He claimed that since most Mercedes-Benz automobile owners already have charging stations in their homes or places of business and are not likely to rely on public infrastructure, switching to electric vehicles would be simpler for them.
He hoped that some governments who continue to charge EVs a road tax would exempt this market.
“Our current investments are close to Rs 2,700 crore in the plant. With GLC (car model launched recently) we have invested an additional Rs 100 crore. This capacity to make 20,000 cars in India (can) go up to 40,000… The first phase of 20,000, we should be seeing very soon. In the next two to three years, we should be reaching those numbers,” he said.
