Flooding the Indian market with new models seems to be working very well for Mercedes, Audi and BMW

If you’ve been inundated with the recent spate of luxury car launches, don’t worry. This is all part of a plan that luxury car majors Mercedes, Audi and BMW are following to gain market shares in the hugely competitive Indian luxury car market. But is this a smart move to clock in more numbers?

Industry experts are giving it thumbs up. Auto expert Murad Ali Baig called it an excellent move by the luxury car makers. “In the luxury market, consumers who are not price conscious at all. They will go out and buy as long as the brand is offering something different,” said Baig.

He explained that in the luxury auto market, different car makers are playing with the prestige quotient of its target consumers. “Mercedes, Audi and BMW have rather a short shelf life. People are ready to spend to maintain a certain image. For instance, there are people who would prefer buying an Audi model as it is considered to be the car of the future. Similarly, a consumer may not want to buy a BMW as their grandfather has another car from the brand. So you see, this is how it works,” he noted.

According to reports, both Audi and Mercedes plan to launch a slew of new cars and facelifts of their existing stable in 2015. “We have been the market leader in the luxury segment and will defend it. The Indian economy is growing well and we will strengthen our position in India,” Luca de Meo, the global head of marketing and sales at Audi had said at an annual conference held earlier this month.

However, brand experts are not too confident about the strategy. Brand expert, Harish Bijoor, CEO of Bijoor Consultants believes it to be confusing. “The brands are trying to grab whatever price or feature gap they can in the market. So that is why they do multiple brand offering. From a marketer’s point of view, this may seem as variety in the market but from a consumer point of view, it is confusing as buyers are not getting the time to understand the offering at all,” he asserted.

It should be noted that both Mercedes and Audi are planning strategic investments in the country in 2015 and plan to launch 15 and 10 new models respectively in the market.