Mercedes Benz on top after 2 year gap; confident of future

Chennai, Feb 16 (PTI): Regaining its numero uno position onvehicle sales in the domestic market after a nearly two yeargap, German luxury car maker "Mercedes Benz" today exudedconfidence on the future.

"Overall car sales went up over 30 per cent last year.I''mproud to say that our sales force in India performed evenbetter (in 2010)", Mercedes-Benz Cars Head and Chairman, Boardof Management of Daimler AG Dr Dieter Zetsche said today.

For a two year period, Mercedes Benz in India lost its topslot to arch rival BMW. But in January 2011, it took over thetop, selling 640 units, 140 more than BMW, recording a 58.81per cent increase in sales for the month, the highest ever forcompared to the same period last year.

"We increased our sales here by as much as 80 per cent in2010", he said at a function here.

He sounded confident on sales following the Indian FormulaRace scheduled to be held in Delhi later this year. "I''mconfident. When the first Indian Formula One Race takes placethis fall, our (Mercedes Benz Race car Silver Arrow) willhelp further increase the number", he said.

Lauding India for being in the top 10 of the world''sbiggest economies in terms of GDP, he hoped the country wouldrise to number three by 2030. "In the past five years, theeconomy here has grown by an average of eight per centannually. And industrial production has more than doubled inthe same period", he said.

Zetsche and senior officials of world''s largest truckmaker Daimler were here to announce their Indian logo"BharatBenz" for trucks to be rolled out from their Oragadamfacility near here.