Mercedes-Benz has announced that it has started assembling its flagship luxury sedan, the new S-class, here at its Chakan plant in Pune. According to sources in the company, the move follows increasing demand for the S 500, the top-of-the-line variant of the S-class that is available here.
Eberhard Kern, managing director and CEO, Mercedes-Benz India, said, “No other car stands for Mercedes-Benz brand promise more than the S-Class and we are delighted to manufacture the new S-Class at our state-of-the art production facility in Chakan, Pune. Quality has all along been the strength of Mercedes-Benz India, and the new S 500 production in India is set to take this success story even further.”
The locally made car sees some changes over the fully imported model. It gets new alloys and a new wood trim on the inside. The steering wheel comes wrapped in leather (instead of wood and leather trim on it), in the rear, the sound system is a Burmester one without 3D surround system and the upholstery is plain leather instead of nappa.
The carmaker also started up an initiative known as the S-class chauffeur training program – a 21-module multilingual course that focusses on enabling chauffeurs to use all the tech available on the new S-class effectively.
The local assembly enables the manufacturer to capitalise on costs and the new Mercedes-Benz S-class is now priced at Rs 1.36 crore (ex-showroom, Mumbai).