Mercedes-Benz India disclosed sales of 11,242 cars and SUVs in 2021, cementing its position at the top of the luxury car segment for the seventh year running, and a fair distance ahead of its luxury carmaker rivals.

• Mercedes leads luxury segment with 41 percent market share
• E class LWB remains Mercedes’ highest-selling model
• Over 3,000 back orders yet to be fulfilled from 2021

The 11,242-unit sales figure is a 42.5 percent increase compared to 2020, which admittedly was a low base of 7,893 units in a year when the month of April saw zero units sold. It’s also worth noting that the 2021 figure is still lower than the brand’s performance in previous years, which is closer to the 15,000-unit mark.

However, after what was a relatively difficult year, that figure still puts Mercedes-Benz ahead of its two main German rivals, both of which showed strong sales growth compared to 2020. BMW posted a 34 percent growth, year on year, with 8,236 units sold, while Audi’s sales of 3,293 units amounted to a 101 percent growth compared to its particularly tough 2020.

Mercedes-Benz also states that it has more than 3,000 backorders left to fulfil going into 2022, its highest ever. “It’s a clear indication we are operating in a healthy market based on our product portfolio,” said Mercedes-Benz India CEO Martin Schwenk. This is, of course, a clear indication of strong demand outstripping supply, but one also has to factor production constraints caused by the global semiconductor shortage, without which some of those orders might have been fulfilled.

Which car contributed the most to those sales? Contrary to what you might expect, it was not one of the entry-level models, but the extremely popular E Class LWB – a car which costs between Rs 64 lakh and Rs 85 lakh, ex-showroom. SUVs, of course, also were big contributors, with the GLC being the top seller.

Apart from just the models themselves, Mercedes-Benz says its new direct-to-customer sales model, dubbed ‘Retail of the Future’, which it adopted in the fourth quarter of 2021, has been a huge success. Since October 2021, the brand has invoiced over 2,500 orders through the system, resulting in over Rs 1,000 crore in transactions. “We have seen huge customer interest and very positive feedback [for the new retail model],” said Schwenk. “Our franchise partners stand with us; they love the model.”

Other milestones for Mercedes-Benz India in 2021 included putting over 59,000 connected cars on the road, which included retrofitting some older models with the hardware and software necessary to support MMC (Mercedes Me Connect). The brand has also trained all of its 94 retail and service outlets across India to handle the sale and after-sales service of its EQ electric models.

And finally, the brand’s Chakan plant was retrofitted with, among other things, 3.6Mw of solar panels, to the point that production is now 100 percent green as of January 2022. “We really lived up to our expectation to reimagine excellence and also to lead the luxury car segment in India,” Schwenk said of 2021.

Do you think Mercedes will hold on to the top spot in 2022? Let us know in the comments section below.