Auf Wiedersehen: A Look Back At Mercedes Benz Boss, Martin Schwenk's India Innings

Mercedes-Benz India is at the top of its game, but it has been a steep mountain to climb. It’s been the No. 1 luxury carmaker for the past 7 years and none of the other players have been able to keep pace with the company’s growth in the country. Ever since 2015, Mercedes-Benz India has been introducing products that capture the larger market share and the plan then was to become No.1 in each segment and then capture the overall market; a strategy that was very well articulated by the then Managing Director of the German carmaker, Roland Folger.

By 2018, Mercedes-Benz India’s growth continued and that’s when there was a change of guard at the helm. Martin Schwenk, with 26 years of experience in Daimler AG then, took over the reins to scale the business to new heights. The challenge, then, was not just to stay in the No.1 position, but also to make India one of the pillars of the company’s global operations.

The company's AMG portfolio grew under Schwenk's leadership

Under his leadership the entire fleet was upgraded to BS6 well ahead of the April 2020 deadline and that was a massive undertaking. But the real challenge was yet to come. The pandemic wreaked havoc and with multiple lockdowns across the globe, the stress on business was immense. Martin with his team worked on a plan to navigate through the pandemic with zero income coming in from sales. But the company also undertook various CSR activities to lend a helping hand to the society to overcome the challenges posed by the pandemic.

The company till date has launched 3 electric cars and one electric AMG in India

The level of difficulty went up a notch once the markets opened a little because the global shortage of semiconductors hit production in a big way and again, resulting in deliveries being delayed to customers. With all these issues plaguing the company, it did not put its electrification plans on hold. The EQC was launched in 2021, with a promise of more EVs hitting the market soon. And by 2022, the flagship EQS and the EQB were here as well and now the company a varied EV portfolio in the country. In fact, Schwenk, pursued Mercedes-Benz headquarters to bring in more SUVs to India and the plan has worked because it’s the only luxury maker with the highest number of SUVs in the country. The number of AMG performance cars too grew and the demand poured in.

Mercedes-Benz India was the first CKD market where 'Retail Of The Future' was introduced

However, the biggest challenge was pushing through the ‘Retail of the Future’(ROTF) in India. India was the first CKD and fourth worldwide market to implement the new business model and getting the dealers on board was certainly challenging but now with the transparency in transaction, ROTF has been successful, and the bold move has paid off.

The bold actions were reiterated by Schwenk when he decided to take a rickshaw in Pune to reach the hotel where he was to meet the media fraternity. We have always loved his enthusiasm, charm and his smile. We at car&bike wish Martin Schwenk all the very best in his future endeavours.

Santosh Iyer, takes over from Martin Schwenk as MD, Mercedes-Benz India in Jan 2023

The future of Mercedes-Benz India now is in the safe hands of Santosh Iyer, VP Sales and Marketing, who received the EQS steering wheel from Schwenk as he takes over the role of Managing Director from January 2023.