Mercedes Bets on Smaller Cities Amid Youth Spending

Germany's Mercedes-Benz, fresh off a year of record sales in India, plans to add another 20 dealerships or service outlets in 2025—mainly in smaller cities where young, well-travelled business owners are indulging in luxury goods.

- Reuters

NEW DELHI:

Rapid economic growth in India has wrought a fundamental shift in attitude towards luxury purchases among its younger generations that differs from their elders who were more concerned with living thriftily and increasing their savings.

"Now the second and third generation have taken over the family business and these guys have studied abroad, come back and are able to consume without guilt. It is not only cars, but even watches and other luxury," Santosh Iyer, CEO of Mercedes-Benz India, told Reuters.

That trend has foreign luxury goods firms like Mercedes, which currently has 125 outlets in India, increasingly looking beyond the country's mega cities such as New Delhi and Mumbai.