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Luxury EV sales zoom 66% in India; 2,027 units sold in just 5 months
Sales of electric vehicles in the luxury segment grew by 66% to 2,027 units in the first five months of the ongoing calendar year driven by healthy customer adoption at the upper end of the local market.
As many as 1,223 luxury EVs were sold in the same period last year, shows vehicle registration data from VAHAN portal of the Ministry of Road Transport & Highways (MoRTH).
Santosh Iyer, Managing Director at
Mercedes Benz India
, told ET, 'We are clearly seeing a strong traction for electric vehicles in the luxury segment, much more than that being seen in the mass market. For our own portfolio sales growth have been higher at 73% between Jan-May 2025, driven by demand for our top-end-vehicles.'
For Mercedes-Benz India's while electric car sales came mostly from customers in metro markets of Delhi NCR, Mumbai, Hyderabad, and Bengaluru, Iyer pointed out 'penetration of electric vehicles in some emerging markets like Kerala, Gujarat is encouraging'.
'In the industry too, penetration of electric in luxury vehicle sales is on a rise and stood at 11% in the first five months of the year, compared to 7% in the same period last year', Iyer informed.
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Compatriot BMW - which has half a dozen electric vehicles for offer in the Indian market - too is seeing strong demand, and even from Tier-II cities like Jaipur. Vikram Pawah, President, BMW Group India, said in a recent interaction, 'We had targeted about 15% of our sales to come in from EVs by 2025. We are already at about 17%. We expect penetration to only go up from here, with 30% of our sales coming in from electrics by 2030.'
Overall, sales of luxury vehicles is expected to grow in high-single digits this year. Iyer said, 'The industry has grown by 7-8% in the first five months of the year. While uncertainty continues due to a super-charged geo-political environment, the recent rate cuts by the RBI should help foster demand. We are expecting good sales in the festive season. The growth this year should be in line with expectations.'
Luxury car sales grew by about 8% to 54,000 units in CY2024. Luxury cars currently have a little over 1% market share in India—the lowest among major economies. The country however offers ample growth potential given it is home to one of the highest number of billionaires worldwide, industry experts said.
Between 2023 and 2028, India will witness the highest increase for any country in the number of ultra-high-net-worth individuals (UHNWIs), with a net worth of $30 million or more, as per Knight Frank's flagship study, 'The Wealth Report 2024'. The number of ultra-rich Indians is expected to surge by 50% to 19,908 in 2028 from 13,263 in 2023. India will be followed by China (47%), Türkiye (42.9%), and Malaysia (35%), according to the report.
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