New Delhi: Mercedes-Benz India expects its electric vehicle (EV) sales to gather pace in the coming months as the company lines up more BEVs for the Indian market over the next 18-20 months, Managing Director and CEO Santosh Iyer said on Friday. The company’s newly launched CLA BEV, priced from Rs 55 lakh, now gives Mercedes-Benz an electric option in the entry segment in India for the first time, Iyer said.
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“In the entry segment, we didn't have any cars,” he said, adding that the launch of the CLA marks the start of a wider electric portfolio for the brand in this price band.
Iyer said Mercedes-Benz has a large global pipeline of electric models and several of them are expected to reach India soon. “There are still many more products to come in the BEV (battery electric vehicle) portfolio from our stable. We have 40-plus launches globally, and most of them are EVs,” he said.
He added that the company has already brought out the new GLC BEV and the new C Class EV globally, and said many of these products will be introduced in India next year and beyond.
“Most of these products will come to India next year and in the future, and some of them will also contribute significantly to the volumes. These are all building blocks,” Iyer said.
Asked about the likely contribution of EVs to overall sales in India, Iyer said the company is still in the process of building out its full electric line-up. “The big impacts will come in the next 12 to 18 months,” he said, adding that the company expects stronger traction once the next-generation platform and segment-wise EV products are in place.
He said EVs currently account for close to 6-8 percent of Mercedes-Benz India’s total sales and that share is likely to stay around that level this year.
“Today, we are at close to 6-8 percent (EV contribution to total sales). It will remain in that region this year...it's still not that the full electric portfolio is complete for us to start growing significantly,” he said.
At the higher end of the market, Mercedes-Benz India has seen stronger demand for models such as the EQS SUV, EQS Maybach SUV and the electric G-Class SUV. Iyer said these vehicles account for 20 percent of the company’s total top-end volumes, in the segment priced above Rs 1.4 crore, in FY2025-26.
The company had earlier offered the EQA and EQB in the entry segment, but discontinued them in anticipation of the new CLA, creating what Iyer described as a gap before the latest launch.
Mercedes-Benz said the CLA BEV has received a strong market response since bookings opened. “We have got 400-plus orders in the last 20 days ever since it was opened for bookings, and we are sold out till July-end,” Iyer said.
The CLA BEV is offered in three variants: CLA 200 ‘Standard Range’ at Rs 55 lakh, CLA 250+ ‘Long Range’ at Rs 59 lakh and CLA BEV ‘Launch Edition’ at Rs 64 lakh.
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Depending on the variant, the model offers a range of 542 km to 792 km on a single charge. It is also the first Mercedes-Benz car built on the company’s new MMA platform with 800-volt architecture.
Iyer said the CLA BEV “marks a decisive step forward, laying a strong foundation for Mercedes-Benz's long-term BEV journey in India.”