(left) Santosh Iyer, MD and CEO, Mercedes-Benz India, and Brendon Sissing, VP – Sales & Marketing, with Mercedes CLA 250+ ‘Long Range’
Mercedes-Benz India on Friday said that the buying sentiments have not changed for luxury cars in India, as the markets are getting back to normalcy. It is the delay in supply chain management, which the carmaker said, was leading to price escalation, and that it was planning for another price hike in the next few months.
“We were never dependent on the current shipping routes, which are affected. We are seeing delays, we are seeing increased cost for sure, but it’s still in the manageable extent because we anyway have buffer stocks. But, on the other side, the exchange rate deterioration was significant so we tried to cover it with two price increases already and now we have to again think of the third price increase in the third quarter (July),” Santosh Iyer, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Mercedes-Benz India, told businessline.
Speakingon the sidelines of the much awaited CLA battery electric vehicle (BEV), he noted that the company has to recalculate at some point in time, because rising exchange rates were the worrying factor, more than the supply side.
“We have to be careful on the demand side as well – that we cannot continue to increase prices and expect demand to be the same. So we will have to recalculate that at some point in time,” Iyer said.
Robust demand
On the demand side, he said that there was a strong momentum for luxury cars with significant demand, and the industry is expected to continue with the momentum.
“It was only in the last week of March when we saw a bit of some sentiment changes. That was the week when the capital markets crashed and there was a bit of sentiment down. But now, with the recovery of the markets as well as to some extent, I think the buying sentiments have not changed, we still are seeing good demand,” Iyer added.
The CLA 250+ ‘Long Range’ model is priced at ₹59 lakh
The company launched the CLA BEV with introductory prices of ₹55 lakh for CLA 200 ‘Standard Range’; ₹59 lakh for CLA 250+ ‘Long Range’; and ₹64 lakh for CLA BEV ‘Launch Edition’.
The CLA 250+ ‘Long Range’ has a range of 792 Km on a full charge, goes 0-100 kmph in 6.7 seconds and has a 200 kW peak output with 85.5 kWh battery. Mercedes-Benz India has already received 400+ bookings and the deliveries will soon commence, Iyer said, adding that 60 per cent of buyers are first time buyers to luxury and 40 per cent are current luxury customers. Majority of CLA buyers are Gen Z and millennials.
Published on April 24, 2026
