Mercedes-Benz India does some cheeky brand promotion, welcomes Jaguar’s I-PACE EV in India to its charging stations: Nikhil Chawla discusses

 24th March 2021    Opinion 

Jaguar (JLR India) announced their first EV the I-Pace in India making it the second luxury EV offering to be available in India - the world’s fastest-growing automobile market in terms of output. The first luxury EV to launch in India was the Mercedes-Benz EQC that was launched last year.

The brand has also partnered with Tata Power to help provide home and office charging options to all the I-Pace customers. 

But that did not stop Mercedes-Benz India from offering Jaguar I-PACE owners’ access to use Mercedes-Benz India’s existing over 100 Charging Stations that they have to offer. The German automaker posted it on their social media handles bringing cheeky rivalry to action.

Santosh Iyer, VP – Sales and Marketing at Mercedes-Benz India welcomed Jaguar Land Rover India’s decision and pointed that by sharing the ecosystem the adoption of EV will grow faster, “Our view is simple; Being leaders in the luxury car market, if we do not drive the EV ecosystem, who else will? 

 By sharing the ecosystem, we can only increase the adoption rate of EVs faster. The story has just begun.”

Among the other key players who are lining up with their luxury EV products are Volvo and Audi. 

A lot of buyers are also waiting for Tesla as it closes in on its India debut. While the luxury carmakers are not able to offer their EV’s for less than a crore rupee. A lot of people are hopeful that Tesla’s Model 3 should be priced around 70 Lacs in India.

Brand rivalries are very common, especially in the automotive industry. Anyone who follows automobile brands must be aware of the 100-year-old rivalry between the German Automakers – Mercedes-Benz and BMW continue to date.

Honestly, these slight pokes are nothing new between the auto companies, which, despite their differences, have almost always played a fair-play game and respected each other.

And this recent move by Mercedes-Benz India to welcome Jaguar I-PACE in India was nothing less than a brave move by offering customers of a competition brand to use their services. 

So do let us know in the comments section below if this was a naughty or a noble move by Mercedes-Benz India!

Nikhil Chawla is a tech journalist with stories on a range of mainstream media organisations including CNBC Awaaz, ET Now Live Now, Aaj Tak and NDTV.