Pramak

High Speed drive

Five Years ago, the only place where you were most likely to spot a luxury car was a five –star hotel.
Marketing these essentially meant giving the prospective buyer a test drive. And for the vast majority of Indians, or
rather, metro city dwellers, not only buying one out of the question but even casually checking out the car in the showroom required guts.

Cut to 2010. A monthly group of industrialists ,exporters, lawyers, real estate developers and other well heeled citizen in Aurangabad come together to negotiate a hefty discount and book 115 swanky Mercedes- Benz of their choice. Their aim: to make a statement about the purchasing power of their town. That’s how far luxury car have traveled in last five years in India.
The barriers have been dismantled, the consumer is spoilt for choice, and whether one has the money or not, he is well versed with these brands. For luxury car makers, the sure way to tap customers is to be present where the are.
So, from fan clubs to museums to racing tracks, these companies make sure that their brand make a personal statement about its owner.
The luxury car market in India stands at around 7000-8000 units per year and has been growing at 20% year-on-year.the german power houses take the lead in this segment-in financial year ended march 2010, BMW led with 3941 cars sold in india, closely followed by Mercedes-Benz at 3760 cars. Audi sold 1532 cars while jaguar land rover(JLR) which was bought by tata in 2008, brought up the rear with 242 ca sold in india. However, Mercedes –Benz recovered its leadership position last month when it sold 341 car compared to 307 car by BMW and 198 car by Audi.
According to a report by DSP Merrilll lynch and cap Gemini consulting, the high net worth population   in india is expected to triple over the 2008-18 period. “a luxury car is probably one of the first luxury goods purchased by those ascending the socio-economic ladder, as it is one of the most obvious... [continues]

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