Mercedes Benz India Limited (MBIL) has stopped the production of BS-IV vehicles at its Chakan factory near Pune and will be rolling out BS-VI models only.
“Right now there is no production of BS-IV in our plants. There are a few BS-IV vehicles with our dealers which we hope to sell out soon,” said Martin Schwenk, CEO and MD and MBIL, in New Delhi last week, while launching the upgraded GLC-Class.
The company is confident of clearing its BS-IV inventory well within the stipulated period. When asked on special discounts to clear stocks, Schwenk said: “There are different discount patterns. There are normal discounts on portfolio for lifecycle end products.”
He is confident the German auto company, which was the first manufacturer to have a BS-VI vehicle in India, the BS-VI S-Class way back in January 2018, is going to have a smooth transition to the new regime.
The German marquee, which completed 25 years of assembly, has sold 1.1 lakh locally made cars. It started assembly in 1994 when it shared space with Tata Motors’ at the Tata plant at Pimpri near Pune.
India journey
Later, the company built its own facility at Chakan, which was inaugurated in 2009. MBIL has invested Rs 2,200 crore in the plant till date. Asked when MBIL hopes to achieve 2 lakh sales, Schwenk said: “It would be faster than the first lakh.”
He said Mercedes was looking at options in electric vehicles. “But we are very much reliant on our conventional diesel engine which is clean and fuel efficient.”
