[dragracer567]

Maybach selling 10 cars per week in India

Maybach, which currently constitutes the ultra-luxury variants of various Mercedes cars, has sold over 500 cars in India in 2024 (out of 19,500 Mercedes cars sold in India), which constitutes around 10 cars per week which are quite healthy numbers, with the average age of buyers being 38. I guess it would make India one of Maybach's biggest single markets.

The future of luxury in India is not slowing down anytime soon. When it comes to luxury in India, high-end cars have their own sweet spot right on top of the list. For car lovers, the glimmer of a Maybach is the very definition of luxury, or so 2024 sales figures will have you believe.

Maybach sold about ten cars per week in India last year, showing a 145% growth, says a report in the Times of India.

Maybach Prices Start At Rs 3 Crore In India.

Luxury At An All-Time High As Maybach Sold Ten Cars Weekly In India
The future of luxury in India is not slowing down anytime soon. When it comes to luxury in India, high-end cars have their own sweet spot right on top of the list. For car lovers, the glimmer of a Maybach is the very definition of luxury, or so 2024 sales figures will have you believe.

Maybach sold about ten cars per week in India last year, showing a 145% growth, says a report in the Times of India.

In an interview with the daily, global head Daniel Lescow said, "Maybach has a history of over 100 years in India, and it is simply amazing to see how the brand has developed and evolved. Just last year, we saw a growth of 145% in our India sales as numbers crossed 500 cars, making it one of the fastest-growing countries for us globally."

Maybach is one of the biggest ultra-luxury players to locally make cars in India, as it assembled the S580 model at Mercedes' Pune factory in 2015.

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[DicKy]

They deserve so since they are commited to assembling Maybach models here.

Not familiar with the segment, but is the sales due to Bentley and Rolls Royce being priced stratospherically?

Or is it, as some BHPians have said, Merc is pushing customers towards Maybach models by equipping and building the normal S class and GLS to be...well.. normal and not special enough

[kushagra452]

Average age of 38! Damn, I am past that and have not bought a car yet. What a bummer!

[vineetsynergy]

I feel the deluge of celebrities in Maybachs on social media and skyrocketing real estate prices in many many Tier I, II & III cities in India is a big factor in fueling this growth.

Hopefully in a couple of years used Maybach prices will drop significantly and I will be able to afford one

[carjack3090]

If only Mercedes had half the commitment for India, they would have been selling over 50k units a year in India

[Maky]

Originally Posted by carjack3090

If only Mercedes had half the commitment for India, they would have been selling over 50k units a year in India

Could you expand on that?, I'm interested in knowing what full commitment for India by Mercedes would entail in your opinion.

[carjack3090]

Originally Posted by Maky

Could you expand on that?, I'm interested in knowing what full commitment for India by Mercedes would entail in your opinion.

What I mean to say is commitment to locally manufacturing instead of doing German CKD. If they were serious they would have worked to make their C Class and E class here and get it competitively priced

[Maky]

Originally Posted by carjack3090

What I mean to say is commitment to locally manufacturing instead of doing German CKD. If they were serious they would have worked to make their C Class and E class here and get it competitively priced

The local supply chain does not exist to adhere to the quality levels required by their model range, especially up top.
Besides material quality, I believe precision engineering, or lack of, is a whole separate issue. This applying not to just cars but a problem effecting local manufacturing of other products across other industries.

[nareshtrao]

Originally Posted by carjack3090

What I mean to say is commitment to locally manufacturing instead of doing German CKD. If they were serious they would have worked to make their C Class and E class here and get it competitively priced

Originally Posted by Maky

The local supply chain does not exist to adhere to the quality levels required by their model range, especially up top.
Besides material quality, I believe precision engineering, or lack of, is a whole separate issue. This applying not to just cars but a problem effecting local manufacturing of other products across other industries.

Both valid points but partly away from the reality. I agree that if competitively priced, the lower modles like C, D, CLA, GLA and perhaps GLC too will have higher numbers. However, the extrapolated numbers may still not add up to the investment needed for manufacturing and also building an ecosystem of ancillary suppliers. Each of these suppliers too will need proportionate investments. The volumes possible with a slightly lower price may not still be much and the plant needs much larger investment resulting in a long payback period financially. Further, to sustain the levels and quality of Sales, the investment in the front-end will also pile up.

On the quality front, the issue is debatable. There is enough tech and expertise available in India and some of the global companies are leveraging it. Even the high precision enginnered products like iPhones and Samsungs have now major manufacruring hub in India and the quality is on par. There are enough high volume Auto parts being made for European and American Cars in India though none of those models are even sold here. Land Rover as an example has a fairly large sourcing in India too. Many global Engine manufacturers are using India for Engines which are high precision manufacturing. Even in Defence and Aviation, a large numbers of high precision parts are being made in India.

So the net of it, what volumes can they get by 10% - 15% price reduction? Not easy to tell. Will that be enough to sustain 2 - 3 Billion USD needed for a high end plant and everything from Parts ecosystem to Supply Chain establishment? Not sure. That is where the Business Case takes a beating.

[Aroy]

Originally Posted by nareshtrao

.........................................

On the quality front, the issue is debatable. There is enough tech and expertise available in India and some of the global companies are leveraging it. Even the high precision enginnered products like iPhones and Samsungs have now major manufacruring hub in India and the quality is on par. There are enough high volume Auto parts being made for European and American Cars in India though none of those models are even sold here. Land Rover as an example has a fairly large sourcing in India too. Many global Engine manufacturers are using India for Engines which are high precision manufacturing. Even in Defence and Aviation, a large numbers of high precision parts are being made in India.

So the net of it, what volumes can they get by 10% - 15% price reduction? Not easy to tell. Will that be enough to sustain 2 - 3 Billion USD needed for a high end plant and everything from Parts ecosystem to Supply Chain establishment? Not sure. That is where the Business Case takes a beating.

Electronic devices are made in millions, so investment in higher technology makes sense. In automobiles we are talking of thousands, at the most 10's of thousands, so the investment may not be justified.

Regarding engines, the numbers are quite large and amortised over quite a few models, so it is feasible.

There was a news item which clarified high tech manufacturing problems. When last time Trump had a spat with China, he wanted the manufacturing to shift back to USA. Take a simple screw used in Apple Phones
. The capacity of Chinese Plant(s) was in hundreds of millions).
. The tooling required is customised
. Chinese were selling it at (say 1 cent)
. US companies estimated the time to get the tooling and lines in place at 6 months (Chinese are known to do the same in less than a month)
. The final cost would be say 10 cents

In the end it made no sense to manufacture in US. Except for Military hardware (where costs are no problem), manufacturing is much more expensive.

So at times it is more cost effective to import, rather than manufacture (unless it is strategic or military hardware).

[carjack3090]

Originally Posted by nareshtrao

Both valid points but partly away from the reality. I agree that if competitively priced, the lower modles like C, D, CLA, GLA and perhaps GLC too will have higher numbers. However, the extrapolated numbers may still not add up to the investment needed for manufacturing and also building an ecosystem of ancillary suppliers. Each of these suppliers too will need proportionate investments.
So the net of it, what volumes can they get by 10% - 15% price reduction? Not easy to tell. Will that be enough to sustain 2 - 3 Billion USD needed for a high end plant and everything from Parts ecosystem to Supply Chain establishment? Not sure. That is where the Business Case takes a beating.

See this is my point, what comes first the business case or the business itself. It is a classic chicken or egg story with businesses.

When Apple began to locally manufacture and sell Iphone in India, it made zero business case as Iphone's penetration in Indian market was very low and among a niche. They could had continued making in China and selling in India for the luxury niche buyer

Although helped by China's Crazy Covid restrictions and policies. Apple eventually saw a case for Export from India and in the meantime also to sell the products in process. What happened? Apple is now among top 5 sellers of smartphone in India, in a country with Per Capita Income of 3,000 where the case for a luxury smartphone was zero

[Geo_Ipe]

Originally Posted by dragracer567

Maybach selling 10 cars per week in India
the average age of buyers being 38.

These are all 2nd or 3rd generation business family kids who are buying Maybachs! I honestly don't think there are 10 self made enterpreneurs in their 30s every week shelling out 3+ crores for a Maybach in India yet.

Originally Posted by kushagra452

Average age of 38! Damn, I am past that and have not bought a car yet. What a bummer!

Worry not, pal! A beautifully kept 2005 Mitsubishi Lancer has my respect over any nepo kid's 340i.

[sunikkat]

I am not surprised, a casual drive in Bangalore last week and I saw around 5 to 7 Maybach’s in an hour. This was not the case a year back.

[quickdraw]

I have heard many stories of folks with Maybach GLS and S class suffering from many issues. Ranging from AC water leaking into the cabin to all kinds of module issues. I personally know 2-3 people who have had to sell their cars at huge losses because Mercedes India was not able to rectify these issues. This is happening with their flagship V12 S680s. Personal experience with the CKD S class has also been quite poor, with many issues with interior quality, leather and squeaky plastics. Mercedes is milking the brand, but the ownership experience is severely lacking.

[HRT_FPV]

Originally Posted by nareshtrao

On the quality front, the issue is debatable. There is enough tech and expertise available in India and some of the global companies are leveraging it. Even the high precision enginnered products like iPhones and Samsungs have now major manufacruring hub in India and the quality is on par.

I second your take on excellence being available in india that can be tapped on. BMW has locally produced cars like the 6GT from the Chennai facility and the build is higher standard than some newer CBU/CKD models. They are able to replicate processes perfected over the years and it’s not a challenge globally for any large manufacturer.

My sister-in-law’s GLS & E-Class have noticeable step downs in quality of materials, and basic principles seem ignored - rattling in the cabin being a common theme.