Mercedes-Benz ML 250 CDI to be launched on October 10

The SUV market has been growing steadily in India owing to their status symbol aura and imposing road presence. SUVs across price brackets have recorded healthy sales figures. 

Mercedes-Benz is looking to capitalise on this with their new ML 250 CDI. Rivals Audi and BMW have introduced their compact SUVs, the Q5 and the X3 respectively to exploit the market potential of the segment. 

While the Mercedes-Benz ML is a full sized SUV, its 2.2-litre four-cylinder diesel engine will allow the company to price it in competition with the smaller Audi Q5 3.0 TDI and BMW X3 30d that are equipped with bigger six-cylinder engines. 

This gives Mercedes-Benz quite an edge in the luxury SUV market as most of these cars are chauffeur-driven and luxury supersedes power. 

Nevertheless, the ML 250 CDI’s engine that does duty in the C-Class and the E-Class develops 206PS of power and 500Nm of torque. This means that the ML 250 CDI still has the grunt to deal with the bulk.

Mercedes-Benz is looking to increase its market share in India and improve its sales that fell nearly 24 per cent during April-July. The German luxury car maker is looking at doing so by launching four of its new generation compact cars in India. In fact the B-Class at Rs 21 lakh (ex-showroom Maharashtra) has become the first Merc in India to be sold under Rs 25 lakh.  

Another way Mercedes-Benz is making their cars more affordable is by introducing the concept of self-leasing that allows buyers rent a Merc for two or three years for an all-inclusive fee of Rs 1 lakh per month.

Also read: Mercedes-Benz to introduce self-leasing

By introducing the M-Class SUV with a smaller engine and slashing its price, Mercedes-Benz will have taken yet another step towards boosting sales.