Daimler’s new plant to come up early next year in Maharashtra

Hyderabad: Luxury carmaker DaimlerChrysler is set to commission its new manufacturing base at Chakan in Maharashtra early next year, which would enhance the company’s capability to offer a wide range of products.

The Director of Sales and Marketing, Mr Sanjiv Sahajwala, said that the plant slated for commissioning by the first quarter of 2009, would come up in a 100-acre site near the current manufacturing base.

Speaking on the sidelines of the launch of its Benz C-Class variants in Hyderabad, Mr Sahajwala said that the market for luxury cars has begun to expand. With the entry of other major carmakers, this will further widen.

“The new base would enable us to offer what customers demand and provide us the flexibility of offering more variants,” he said.

Last year, the company sold 2,500 cars across its models, which reflected a growth of about 18 per cent over the year 2006. This includes 1100 C-Class variants, even though we were in the process of bringing in new models, Mr Sahajwala said.

“This only reflects the market appetite for well-built luxury cars. Even though some new entrants launched new models, the market has grown last year. We expect a similar trend this year,” he said.

“The company has sold over 6 million C-Class variants over the years. This continues to be a major growth driver for the company across markets. With the launch of new models, both petrol and diesel variants, the market would only expand further,” he said.

The new C-Class range is priced between Rs 26.5 lakh and Rs 31.5 lakh, ex-showroom.