Mercedes-Benz has launched the locally built S-350 CDI in India and has also started making the body for the S-Class here.
Priced at ₹1.07 crore in Maharashtra (ex-showroom), the new car will be available at all its dealerships from today.
Eberhard Kern, Managing Director & CEO, Mercedes-Benz India said: “For the first time, Mercedes is commencing the body manufacturing for the new S-Class and this is an important step towards local value addition.”
Stamping, he said, happened centrally for all Mercedes plants, and panels for the India plant come from Germany. The manufacture (and painting) of the body will take the local content in the S-Class to 30-40 per cent by value, the same as that for their other locally assembled cars, he added. The newly launched car has a 3-litre V6 engine mated to a 7-speed automatic transmission. It produces 190 Kw @ 3600 rpm and 620 nm @ 1600-2400 rpm and accelerates.
0% attrition In a region that has seen some major labour unrest in the past few years, Mercedes Benz India says that not a single blue collar worker has left the company since its inception nearly 19-years ago, making for a zero per cent rate of attrition.
The company, which began with a workforce of 120, currently has 200 permanent workers and has many trainees who will be absorbed, says Suhas Kadlaskar, Vice-President, Corporate Affairs and HR.