India’s growing luxury car

India has become the most sought after market for luxury carmakers. Sales of luxury cars in the country are zooming ahead in top gear this year. Carmakers like Mercedes Benz, Audi, Land Rover, BMW and Jaguar have extensive plans for the country after this sudden increase in demand. This surge in demand can be attributed to the increase in per capita income.

From the July to January period Mercedes Benz sold 2,921 units as against 1,629 units in the same period last year. BMW sold a total of 2,718 units in the seven-month period compared to 2,008 units in the same period last year and Audi sold 1,535 units in the January-July period, as against 981 units last year. This is because the high disposable income is getting used to buy products that were earlier unaffordable.

Even though the share of the luxury car market is only 3.6 per cent of the total passenger car vehicles in India it still attracts lots of attention. Out of the 1.8 million cars sold last year about 9,000 were luxury vehicles. More and more models are making it to the country due to this new found demand.

Among the cars that are slated o be launched soon are Toyota Etios, Hyundai SUV model Santa Fe, Audi A8 luxury sedan, new Chevrolet Cruze and Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X. The segment is slated to grow threefold in five years.