Mercedes upbeat on sales

Mercedes upbeat on sales

Local unit gains 12% sales growth so far

Mercedes-Benz (Thailand), the local unit of the German luxury car maker, has defied the country's tepid car market and economic doldrums with sales growth of 12% to 6,100 vehicles in eight months.

"Despite the dismal car market, we expect the [overall] luxury car segment to grow 5-10% this year to 20,000 vehicles," said president and chief executive Michael Grewe.

Mr Schulz presents the sporty five-seater CLS Shooting Brake, which carries a price tag of 5.09 million baht.

Mercedes-Benz reported consecutive sales growth over the past three years, with 10,144 cars sold last year, up by 55.8% from 2012. The company sold 6,513 cars in 2012, an increase of 34% from 2011.

It did not disclose a sales forecast for this year.

Mercedes-Benz enjoys a 47% market share for luxury cars, ahead of rivals BMW, Volvo and Volkswagen.

The automotive industry club of the Federation of Thai Industries projects total domestic sales of 1 million cars in 2014, a decrease from 1.2 million in an earlier forecast and well below 1.33 million vehicles in 2013.

Vice-president Martin Schulz said the diversity of Mercedes-Benz models is the key factor maintaining its Thai market share. The company makes 19 models with 30 variations available for every segment.

Mercedes-Benz uses three car categories: compact cars such as the A-Class, B-Class, CLA and GLA, with prices starting from 1.99 million baht; the luxury cars including hybrids such as the C-Class, E-Class and S-Class; and exclusive models such as the M-Class, G-Class and GL-Class.

One-third of its Thai sales are compact cars, while dream cars make up 20% of sales.

In a related development, Mercedes-Benz introduced three new luxury cars in the CLS-Class yesterday, priced from 4.49 to 5.09 million baht.

Mercedes-Benz (Thailand) said it was studying the possibility of producing compact and hybrid cars locally.

More details would be disclosed in 2016, particularly once the new excise tax regime takes effect.

The new tax regime is expected to be based on carbon dioxide emissions, E85 compatibility and fuel-efficient vehicles such as eco-cars and hybrid vehicles, instead of engine size as with the current tax structure.

The car maker's Thonburi Automotive Assembly Plant Co in Samut Prakan province has annual production capacity of 19,000 vehicles but makes only a mere 4,500.

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