Off the mark: luxury car sales roar in India
Credit Suisse, the number of millionaires in India is projected to more than double by 2026, which augers well for the industry. Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Audi, Jaguar Land Rover and Volvo logged strong growth during the first half—a rarity. The three German brands had their best ever half- yearly performance.
Mercedes sold 8,528 cars, followed by BMW-Mini at 5,867 units and a resurgent Audi at 3,474 units. Low discounts means companies are also making more money than before. The strong growth indicates that supplies have eased significantly.
Yet, the crisis is not completely over. There is still a massive order backlog and the waiting period for most luxury models stretches from 2 to 10 months. Mercedes and BMW alone are sitting on orders of over 5,000 units.
This is partly because the companies did not anticipate this surge in demand, and hence were not adequately prepared. If not for some supply chain challenges, sales could have been even higher and topped 50,000 units for the year. Sales of super-luxury cars (that cost `2 crore or more) are booming.
Last year, they grew 50% at over 450 cars, crossing a 2018 high. This year, sales are expected to touch 700 units. Lamborghini, which sold a record 92 cars in India in 2022, said demand was stronger than supply and industry volumes would have topped 1,000 if there were no mismatch.
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