Mercedes Benz's all upcoming diesel vehicles to have BS-VI engines

These BS-VI cars can also run on the BS-IV fuel that is currently retailed in most of the country, except in the capital

Mercedes Benz, the country’s top luxury carmaker, said all its upcoming diesel models would be compliant with Bharat Stage- (BS) VI emission norms, much ahead of the government's deadline of April 2020. Diesel variants comprise three-fourths of the company's sales volume in the Indian market. 

“Going forward, all the diesel engines we plan to launch in the country will be BS-VI compliant only. The government deadline of April 2020 does not pose any challenge for us as we are way ahead of that timeline,” said Michael Jopp, vice-president (sales and marketing) at Mercedes Benz India. In January, Mercedes launched India's first BS-VI compliant car, the S-Class. The new BS-VI vehicle claims a reduction in the nitrogen oxide emissions level by 68 per cent, while the particulate matter limit would be reduced by 82 per cent. 

Jopp said these diesel engines were getting locally assembled at the company's Chakan plant in Maharashtra. The company will gradually also migrate its petrol engines to BS-VI norms. Since diesel engines account for a bulk of our sales, we have decided to work on the higher emission norms in diesel as a priority, he said. 

These BS-VI cars can also run on the BS-IV fuel that is currently retailed in most of the country, except the capital (BS-VI fuel was launched in Delhi in April). “We had intensively and extensively tested the car before the launch,” he said. According to Jopp, the cost of technology for the BS-VI cars is significantly higher and the cars are priced higher. 

Mercedes Benz, which clocked a 16 per cent volume growth in 2017 calendar year to sell 15,330 units in the country, is confident of growing at a double-digit pace in 2018 as well. In the first quarter-ended March, it registered a growth of 25 per cent to sell 4,556 vehicles. The German brand has a 40 per cent share in the Indian luxury car market. 

“We are cautiously optimistic with regard to sales,” Jopp said. The firm launched the Mercedes-AMG S 63 Coupe starting at Rs 25.5 million (ex-showroom, all India price) on Monday, its seventh product in the current year.

Mercedes has said that it continues to expand its sales network in the country. It has 93 outlets in 45 cities and may soon expand to a hundred outlets. Recently, the carmaker hits a milestone of 100,000 cars in cumulative production since its India entry in 1994. Interestingly, the last 50,000 units were produced in a span of just four years, showing the surge in demand for luxury cars. “The next milestone of 150,000 cars will be reached in a shorter span,” said Jopp.