Its Raining Mercs

[Quixtar77]

http://in.news.yahoo.com/aurangabad-enters-fast-lane-150-mercs-one-delivery.html

By Pranav Kulkarni | Indian Express & Financial Express – Fri, Oct 15, 2010

It started as a jest over an early morning jog and ended up creating a record of sorts in the history of the automobile giant. As many as 150 variants of Mercedes Benz, together worth Rs 65 crore, were handed over to people from different walks of life in Aurangabad on Thursday in a single transaction. The delivery of an order placed by Aurangabad residents was the biggest and highest car deal to have taken place ever in India.

"This is the beginning of a new chapter in the history of Indian automobile industry... Coming from all walks of life, these men are primarily entrepreneurs in their 30s and 40s, which means that the average age group of people going for luxury car segment has dropped. Also, we are expecting the market in these (smaller) cities to grow," Mercedes-Benz India Managing Director and Chief Executive Wilfried Aulbur said at the handover function.

In mostly Tenorite Grey, Calcite White, Obsidian Black, Iridian Silver and Carneol Red colours, the swanky lot of 17 S-class, 74 E-class, 39 C-class, six GL and 18 M-class vehicles were handed over. The State Bank of India had sanctioned over Rs 44 crore for 116 of the customers within a record time of seven days.

"It all started with seven of us joking about buying a Mercedes. A little more serious thought, and we approached the company at their Chakan plant. Within a week, they held a car rally in Aurangabad. The news spread by word of mouth and we were 115 by mid-April. The whole deal was closed by April-end and the total number of buyers went up to 150 by then," said Rahul Pagariya, one of the buyers and director of Pagariya Auto.

Mercedes Benz has now also set up a special service centre in Walunj near Aurangabad, which was opened on Thursday with the capacity to handle 100 cars a month.

[The Don]

No offense mate, but isn't this AutoLanka?

[Quixtar77]

No offense mate, but isn't this AutoLanka?

None taken mate, I was actually looking at the pricing, US$ 14.7 Million for 150 Brand New Mercs, that’s an average of LKR 11 Million / Car.

[The Don]

None taken mate, I was actually looking at the pricing, US$ 14.7 Million for 150 Brand New Mercs, that’s an average of LKR 11 Million / Car.

But the article is Indian. I'm not sure if you can relate that in anyway to the Sri Lankan context. I mean the tax policies, the population, the economics, everything is different.

[Watchman]

yeah, and their locomotives suck

[Quixtar77]

But the article is Indian. I'm not sure if you can relate that in anyway to the Sri Lankan context. I mean the tax policies, the population, the economics, everything is different.

Understood. Tks.