EV Sales To Accelerate With More Products Slated To Come In 18-20 Months: Mercedes-Benz India Chief

German luxury carmaker Mercedes-Benz expects its EV sales in India to accelerate, with more products slated to enter the market over the next 18-20 months, a senior company official said on Friday.

Mercedes-Benz India, which launched its new CLA BEV at an introductory price starting at Rs 55 lakh, will now have an electric car to offer in the entry segment of the brand in the country, marking the first of the many products to follow going forward, its Managing Director & CEO Santosh Iyer told PTI.

"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. If you see worldwide, after the CLA, we introduced the new GLC BEV, and we have introduced a new C Class EV," he said.

Iyer further said, "Most of these products will come to India next year and in future, and some of them will also contribute significantly to the volumes. These are all building blocks".

Noting that it will take some time to build the total portfolio of EVs, he said, "The big impacts will come in the next 12 to 18 months. Once the entire portfolio in every segment, we have (an electric) car and all the products coming from the next generation platform".

He was responding to a query on how much the EVs would contribute to the company's overall sales in India.

"Today, we are at close to 6-8% (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, adding the other segment of ICE is also growing continuously.

At the top end, he said Mercedes-Benz India has been doing "quite well" with models like EQS SUV, EQS Maybach SUV, and the electric G-Class SUV, accounting for 20% of the company's volumes of total top-end vehicles priced above ₹1.4 crore in FY2025-26.

"In the entry segment, we didn't have any cars. We used to have the EQA and EQB last year, but then we discontinued those in anticipation of the new CLA coming, and therefore, there was a vacuum and a gap," he said, adding that the new CLA will now be the first model in the portfolio of EVs in the entry segment of the Mercedes-Benz brand.

Iyer said the company has received a robust response to the CLA BEV.

"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," he added.

Mercedes-Benz India is offering the CLA BEV in three trims -- CLA 200 'Standard Range' priced at ₹55 lakh, CLA 250+ 'Long Range' priced at ₹59 lakh and CLA BEV 'Launch Edition' priced at Rs 64 lakh.

These have a range of 542 km to 792 km on a single charge, depending on the variant.

It is the first car based on Mercedes-Benz's new MMA platform with 800-volt architecture.

The CLA BEV marks a decisive step forward, laying a strong foundation for Mercedes-Benz's long-term BEV journey in India. Iyer said.