2015 ZigWheels Awards: Manufacturer of the Year (Cars)-Mercedes-Benz

When Mercedes-Benz announced its intention of launching 15 new cars in 2015, at the start of the year, it sounded like a particularly ambitiously move. But it pulled through and made good on its promise at the end of the year, successfully launching all fifteen models in a single calendar year.

2015 was also Mercedes-Benz’s most successful year in its Indian history. The company registered a 32 per cent y-o-y growth from the January to December 2014 period, when it sold 10,201 units, to 13,502 units sold in the same timeframe last year. This makes it the third straight year of annual growth for the luxury car major in India following 26 per cent growth in 2013 and 13 per cent in 2014.

These impressive figures can be attributed to Mercedes-Benz’s SUV segment that grew by a record 100 per cent last year. Among the highest contributors for the German carmaker’s growth in India were its luxury sedans as the likes of the CLA, the C-Class, the E-Class and the S-class achieved record sales volumes and rocketed up by 42 per cent. The company’s exclusive and top-end performance brand Mercedes-AMG also put up strong figures, which along with the Dream Cars portfolio grew by 54 per cent.

Moreover, Mercedes-Benz India is now the largest luxury car manufacturer in the country after it added no less than three new products – GLA, CLA and the Mercedes- Maybach S500 – to its local production portfolio and doubled the production facility. The company has also increased its cumulative investment in its production facility to Rs 1000 crore.

All these achievements make Mercedes-Benz the worthy winner of the Manufacturer of the Year (Cars) trophy at the 2015 Times Auto Awards in partnership with ZigWheels.