From L to R: Sanjiv Sahajwala, director, marketing, DaimlerChrysler, Manjit Singh Bala, MD, Taipan Traders Ltd and Dr Wilfried Aulbur, CEO

New Delhi: DaimlerChrysler India yesterday presented the premium Mercedes-Benz CL-Class for the Indian market at the Brand Showcase in Chandigarh.

Dr Wilfried Aulbur managing director and CEO, DaimlerChrysler India, unveiled the car.

Brand Showcase featured the complete range of Mercedes-Benz cars in India that included the debutante CL-Class, the S 320 CDI as well as the locally built S-Class, E-Class, the C-Class, and the completely built imported range — the SLK-Class, CLS-Class and the M-Class.

"The idea of the Brand Showcase is to share our enthusiasm about growth and direction of the company and to interact with our friends, customers and media in their home-cities," said Dr Aulbur. "We are committed to offer our customers the latest products in the least possible time. A very good example of this is our introduction of the new luxury Coupé, the CL-Class, this year."

DaimlerChrysler India, which is the only automobile company in India to have completed ISO 9001: 2000 certification for its entire dealer network, reported a sales growth of 22 percent in the first seven months of 2007. The company had recently announced a retail finance scheme, Star Choice, for Mercedes-Benz cars in collaboration with ICICI Bank.

Sanjiv Sahajwala, director, marketing and sales, DaimlerChrysler India said that the demand for Mercedes cars had been increasing in non-metro cities

"Over the last few years, we are attracting younger customers in India: young entrepreneurs, IT professionals and successful businessmen are increasingly fascinated by the Mercedes-Benz brand," Sahajwala said.