Eberhard Kern, MD, Mercedes-Benz India says that the six months since he assumed charge were full of challenges such as the slump in overall auto sales and the depreciation in the rupee .

The fall in the value of the rupee against dollar has started to impact margins and highlights that a decision will be taken to change revise pricing by July or August.

The growth of rivals Audi and BMW do not disturb Kern who says that he remains focused on establishing a sustainable and profitable business at Mercedes-Benz India

This particular video gives you all the relevant information because it contains the interview of Eberhard Kern, MD, Mercedes-Benz


Acc. to him ,"The euro is much more important to us than the dollar as we import most of our products, kits or parts from the euro zone. In December 2012, the euro was around 70 and we established a defensive strategy for the year after taking into consideration a probable rise of the euro to rise to 74 against the rupee. But now it is at 78-79.

This of course directly impacts our costing which involves purchasing in the euro and selling in the rupee. Our  profit margins will start to face some pressure. So far, we have been able  sustain the price level, but if the rupee continues to wobble over the next few weeks or months, we may have to re-examine our pricing as well."

He also adds ," We have been in this business for years. The E-Class, as you mentioned correctly, is one of our most important models today. Of the over 2,000 cars we sold in the first quarter which was 5 percent better than last year’s Q1 sales, the sales of the E-Class contributed 40 percent. So it is one of our most important models.

Overall, we are the leaders in all the segments that we are present in. There are also segments in the market that we were able to develop quite successfully in the last one-to-two years such as the mid-sized luxury SUV and the small-sized luxury SUV. As we do not have any products in those segments right now, we are not able to participate in them."

His future planning :-

In the mid-sized luxury SUV segment, we have the Mercedes-Benz GLK, but unfortunately the only model on offer is the model with the left hand drive.

We hope this will change with the successor model we plan to introduce in two year's time. Though we do not have a product in the small-sized SUV segment right now, you may recall that a few months ago at the Shanghai Motor Show we exhibited the Concept GLA.

This model had a very, very positive response in the Indian market as well. So I am quite confident that we will be able to launch this model into India in one-and-a-half year's time.