The luxury auto giant from Germany, Mercedes-Benz has finally launched its dealership in UP, which is the first one in Uttar Pradesh. Earlier to this, they had recently opened outlets in two other tier-II cities as well including Indore and Karnal, which shows the company's seriousness towards expanding its reach. Merc is aiming to sell about 50 cars through the newly opened dealership in UP in the current fiscal year and double the numbers by 2013. However, it is already selling about 50 cars a year in Uttar Pradesh via its Delhi based dealerships.
Showing the company's trust in Tier-II cities, Mercedes-Benz Director-Sales & Marketing said, Debashish Mitra “Two to three years ago, Delhi and Mumbai accounted for nearly 70 per cent of our sales. Today, this percentage has declined to 50 per cent; the rest is accounted for by Tier-II towns,” “We are confident Tier-II and Tier-III towns would account for future growth, not only for the automobile sector, but other sectors as well,” he adds.
He further said, "We already derive substantial sales volume from Lucknow and adjoining cities and thought that taking a dealership to Lucknow would help us expand our network and reach out to customers much nearer to their homes" Besides Lucknow, the all new dealership, Smart Hoops will help cater to other cities as well including Kanpur, Gorakhpur, Varanasi, Mirzapur, Agra etc.
Talking about the company's dealership expansion plans, Mitra Said, “We plan to open eight to ten showrooms every year, mostly in Tier-II centres,” the company currently has its presence in 31 cities across India. .
