Luxury car segment: Mercedes-Benz retains first place, BMW second close

Mercedes-Benz continues to lead the luxury car market in India after posting 12% growth in the first half and selling an average of five luxury cars every hour.

Mercedes-Benz India sold 8,061 luxury vehicles between January and June, compared to 7,171 vehicles sold in the same period last year

but growth was lower than in 2017, where sales increased by 16%

. sales of 5,171 cars. The third German luxury car maker Audi refused to share the turnover

25% increase in the price of luxury cars after the entry into force of the goods and services tax ( GST) in the middle of last year. The Pune-based Indian subsidiary said its sedan portfolio grew by 15.2% while its SUV range grew by 15.9% over the six-month period.

Roland Folger, Managing Director and General Manager of Mercedes-Benz India, said, "We are attributing this growth momentum to our customer-centric initiatives, coupled with an unparalleled product and customer service offensive. Our commercial performances are in line with our expectations, despite the exceptional demand last year, due to the anticipation of the implementation of the GST. "

BMW Performance

BMW also recorded double-digit growth that came to 5171 cars including 281 Mini units." BMW India recorded a 13 percent growth over 4576 units sold in the same six months of last year.

Vikram Pawah, chairman, BMW Group India, said: "Our strategy to focus on introducing new innovative product segments into the Indian luxury car market has begun to show results.The BMW 6 Series Gran Turismo and the BMW X3 have already exceeded our expectations and we see outstanding commercial contributions from both in the future. "

first half of 2018, BMW sales growth was mainly driven by sports activity The all-new BMW X3 launched recently led the growth of the segment with a growth of more than 60% compared to January r-june 2017.

Apart from Audi, Tata Motors' British brands, Jaguar Land Rover, also refused to share their sales for the same period. The Swedish Volvo brand said growth over the same period was higher than growth in the same period last year.

Volvo General Manager Charles Frump, however, refused to share details that Volvo would exceed the growth of 28% by 2017 at the end of this calendar year.