Mercedes-Benz will assemble the EQS, an electric luxury sedan in India

According to foreign media reports, on January 13, Martin Schwenk, head of Mercedes-Benz's India business, said that the company plans to assemble EQS electric cars in India this year and expects to start selling locally assembled EQS in India in the fourth quarter of this year. Mercedes-Benz will be the world's first luxury car manufacturer to assemble electric vehicles in India.

Schwenk said the company began selling imported EQC electric SUVs in India in 2020 and has been developing an "eviction vehicle development roadmap" for India for the past two years, although the plan is still in its early stages. "Now we plan to switch from importing cars to producing cars locally because of the sales volume and product potential in the Indian market."

(Image source: Mercedes-Benz)

Currently, electric vehicle sales, especially luxury electric vehicles, account for only a small fraction of India's total car sales, mainly due to low demand, high prices, and a lack of local supply chains such as battery manufacturing.

In addition, India's imposition of tariffs of up to 100% on imported cars has hindered the development of businesses locally. Over the past year, Tesla has been lobbying the Indian government to reduce import tax rates on electric vehicles to 40 percent.

Schwenk did not comment on the total amount of Mercedes-Benz's investment in the Indian electric vehicle market, but revealed that Mercedes-Benz has invested Rs 4 billion (US$54 million) in India over the past two years, with a total investment of US$351 million.

In July, Daimler said it planned to invest more than 40 billion euros ($47 billion) in electric vehicles worldwide by 2030 to compete with Tesla.