It came as a surprise when the company announced that the GLA which will be locally produced as most of us would imagine the CLA sedan being put through this corridor first. When asked for a clarification Mercedes-Benz MD& CEO Eberhard Kern said, "We had to pre-pone the local production of the GLA because of the growing demand for the car in India and the customers had to wait for a long time for their car. Now that we have started local production, that problem will be solved to an extent."
Also Read: Mercedes-Benz CLA Sedan Review
There were no numbers given as far as the waiting period is concerned, but producing the GLA in India was a big decision and this is the first time, the company has produced a new age car anywhere outside Europe. When asked if the next car to undergo this treatment is the CLA sedan , Kern said, "Yes, the CLA will be the next car to be locally produced at the Pune plant and we are looking forward to it." There was no timeline suggested for this but we can expect the announcement within a couple of months from now.
Local production of the GLA saw a reduction in price too. When launched the GLA 200CDI Style was priced at Rs. 32.75 lakh, while now it costs Rs. 31.31 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi). The Sport variant, which cost Rs. 36.9 lakh, saw a reduction in price of nearly Rs. 2 lakh. We expect the price of the CLA sedan too to come down when local production begins.
