[Ashutosh_kumar]

I bought a BMW X1 in 2018 for ₹38.50 lakh on-road, including company registration. Now, the same car (with slightly more features but less power) costs a whopping ₹66 lakh! Has it really changed that much to justify nearly double the price? If the new X1 was reasonably priced, I might have considered it before settling on the Ioniq 5. In essence, German carmakers seem to be pricing themselves out of the market for buyers like me who are willing to spend around ₹50 lakh.

[Tushar]

There are multiple reasons for this stagnation and it's affecting the decisions of other luxury brands thinking of taking the leap too. One reason is plain as day - Indians are value-conscious and not price conscious. Today, an Ioniq 5 makes the X1/GLA category look absurdly overpriced (as if that wasn't apparent already). The interior quality may not be as good, sure, but otherwise, the Ioniq is phenomenal value for money. And this is just the start. The Kia EV9, new Kia Carnival and Mahindra's BE range of electrics etc, are going to drop serious pressure on the Rs 50-80 lakh space.

There's also the issue of focus on who is actually buying the car. The luxury brand cars don't do much for backseat owners until you're paying nearly a crore because they're essentially European customer-centric cars being, at most, mildly adapted for India. Lexus is wasting its potential by being so conservative with its expansion. The ES300h for example is a great chauffeur-driven car at its price range but customers may not even know Lexus exists in India.

Additionally, it feels like many of these brands are chasing after the Golf/Polo- (games, not the cars) playing class of India and aren't realising how much money small town/rural India has. The latter is where volume expansion will come from. Then again, if their business purposes are being fulfilled by how much is being sold now, the category's growth probably doesn't matter in the first place.

[shiv11bhargava]

Mercedes Benz came to India in 1994 and BMW was here in 2008. I think Luxury brand sales will grow in the future.
1. I have worked in the industry however all my bias is on the side for this post.
2. The XUV700 proves to the world and to the normal Indian customer that a 136hp X1 is really not worth it and how complete the 700 is! 200hp @ 20 lakhs. Mind numbing!
3. Year on year sales, and the fact that our economy is in a confusing state both are quite proportional. It is unfortunate that a 3/C that was available for 26 lakhs in 2010, is now at 65! It is all about Economics.
4. India has a very long way to go before the sales truly rise? PCI needs to be much higher as well as lower prices for the German and European bikes/cars.

The industry is doing very well. The customers are losing here. Post 2015, buying a new luxury car isn't a rational decision. I would love to own a 2018 330i and map it! no need for a MY 24 340i! Point also being that the Indian customer is being taken for a ride by the European exotics. Thank God M&M and Tata have worked wonders over the last 10 years. The customer finally understands more, gets more and the VFM equation works.

[RahulNagaraj]

February 2024 sales numbers of Audi, BMW & Mercedes India

FADA has released the vehicle registration data of luxury cars for February 2024.

Mercedes-Benz has come out on top with 1,252 units sold, followed by BMW and Jaguar Land Rover, which have sold 1,040 units and 257 units, respectively.



Luxury carmaker sales for February 2024:

• Mercedes-Benz - 1,252 units, up from 1,162 units in February 2023
• BMW - 1,040 units, up from 666 units in February 2023
• Jaguar Land Rover - 257 units, up from 168 units in February 2023
• Volvo - 165 units, up from 153 units in February 2023
• Audi - 52 units (CBU), down from 156 units in February 2023

Team-BHP's detailed analysis of February 2024 sales figures.

Link to Team-BHP news

[Fuel Of Satan]

Audi double digit sales numbers whereas their direct competition is raking in four digits is truly appalling. Luxury brands are always going bump up their prices every year, and somehow Indian consumers eat them up without complaining. Feels like a fever dream

[Cliff9091]

Originally Posted by Fuel Of Satan

Audi double digit sales numbers whereas their direct competition is raking in four digits is truly appalling. Luxury brands are always going bump up their prices every year, and somehow Indian consumers eat them up without complaining. Feels like a fever dream

Those are just the CBU sales figures shown there, the bread and butter models in the Audi Lineup are doing pretty well i.e the A4, Q3 and Q5. Audi does no less than 500 units per month. in MY 2023 they sold about 8000 cars if I'm not wrong, you could refer the forum post about the same.

[m8002?]

Originally Posted by Ashutosh_kumar

I bought a BMW X1 in 2018 for ₹38.50 lakh on-road, including company registration. Now, the same car (with slightly more features but less power) costs a whopping ₹66 lakh! Has it really changed that much to justify nearly double the price? If the new X1 was reasonably priced, I might have considered it before settling on the Ioniq 5. In essence, German carmakers seem to be pricing themselves out of the market for buyers like me who are willing to spend around ₹50 lakh.

Well, these crazy price increases have benefited one set of people - those who bought these cars in 2016-2019. Used cars are now available ( even in our own T-bhp classifieds ) at the same price the buyers bought them.

[Met_Jazz]

I recently encountered a dilemma when one of my cousins wanted to upgrade from his 2016 Toyota Innova Crysta 2.8 automatic. He was looking to move into the entry-level luxury segment, particularly a compact SUV, and asked me for suggestions. Given his budget of 50 lakhs, he was surprised when I informed him that none of the German trio offered anything under that price (on-road). I recommended the Skoda Kodiaq as it is arguably one of the best cars in that range, even surpassing the offerings of the German trio. However, he wasn't entirely convinced with the current version and preferred the new one. Interestingly, he ended up purchasing the Mahindra XUV 700! I had advised him that he could get better features and engine if he wasn't too focused on the brand name, and he agreed.

This leads me to ponder: is this segment becoming saturated? Not quite. Income levels have risen in the past few years. Don't just take my word for it, observe the purchasing trends of Indians. Models like the Creta, GV, and Nexon, which cost more than twice as much as entry-level hatchbacks, are selling at similar or even double the numbers!

Frankly, entry-level luxury cars don't offer much. The real action seems to be happening at the higher end rather than the entry level. Just browse through the Instagram pages of dealerships, and you'll notice that most deliveries are for cars exceeding 80 lakhs. There are more GLS/GLE models on the road than GLA, more X7/X5 models than X1, and more LR Defenders than Evoque.

I strongly believe that this trend will continue. Indian/Korean/Japanese brands will capture a larger share of the entry-level market, rendering it irrelevant for luxury brands. Instead, these luxury brands will focus on meeting the higher-end demand in the market.

[Mad Max]

This is the past five years hike data for tech workers. These are the folks who would potentially compound their savings through equity plays and other investment options. They simply can't catch up to the rising cost of luxury automobiles. Like someone said before about the X1 priced at 40L in 2018 vs 66L today, the entry price barrier is so high now most folks don't even want to get there.

Also, cheaper cars do come with most features and so if it's the price conscious crowd, they will also avoid it. But, I also think the people who can afford these are cars are having an amazing set of choices in front of them. At the 80L+ band, there are some fun options, luxury options or a great blend of both available.

So, I'll just jealously shove data in their faces and complain.

[doga]

Originally Posted by m8002?

Well, these crazy price increases have benefited one set of people - those who bought these cars in 2016-2019. Used cars are now available ( even in our own T-bhp classifieds ) at the same price the buyers bought them.

Our own team bhp classifieds usually quote way higher than market in most cases. Just do a quick random search and chances are tbhp classifieds would be quoting up to 30% higher for same model, year and number of owners. Of course, you avoid a dealer and probably are getting a clean vehicle.

[Venkatesh]

Mercedes-Benz India announced its best-ever sales performance with the highest sales record for any month, quarter and year.





Link

[RahulNagaraj]

March 2024 sales numbers of Audi, BMW & Mercedes India

FADA has released the vehicle registration data of luxury cars for March 2024.

Mercedes-Benz has come out on top with 1,525 units sold, followed by BMW and Jaguar Land Rover, which have sold 1,062 units and 296 units, respectively.



Luxury carmaker sales for March 2024:

• Mercedes-Benz - 1,525 units, down from 1,754 units in March 2023
• BMW - 1,062 units, up from 909 units in March 2023
• Jaguar Land Rover - 296 units, up from 192 units in March 2023
• Volvo - 152 units, down from 198 units in March 2023
• Audi - 45 units (CBU), down from 151 units in March 2023

Team-BHP's detailed analysis of March 2024 sales figures.

Link to Team-BHP news

[sh3lby]

Has FADA not released Audi's sales figures or am I missing something, It's not there in the post...Maybe we aren't considering Audi a luxury brand anymore after the recent thread? Sorry.

[avdhesh15]

My brother in law was shopping with 50-55 lacs. We went to the big brands, but nothing appealed as much. Finally he went for the top end Hycross for approx 36-38 on road. The only reason he was thinking about the GLA was the brand, but then practicality and minimum 7 year ownership kicked in to ease the decision despite 4 months waiting! I drive the car often, and loving it.

[Sid94]

Except for BMW, all figures are down from last year. BMW was probably able to maintain its volumes because of new launches aimed at younger buyers.

Asian manufacturers are a short work of all the Europeans. Mechanicals & engineering aside, for instance, Kia Seltos/ Hyundai Creta are as powerful as a BMW X1/ Merc GLA on paper and offer a lot more in terms of features at 1/3rd the price. With the latest facelifts launched these past few months, the quality of the materials offered by non-European manufacturers are quite decent for the price. It is hard to justify a 60L+ price for an entry-level luxury car in the highly competitive Indian car market.

It will be interesting to see how manufacturers respond to Chinese ones like BYD Seal, etc coming into the market.