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Euronews
3 days ago
- Automotive
- Euronews
Tesla opens first showroom in India, but too expensive for locals
Tesla opened its first showroom in India on Tuesday, marking the electric vehicle maker's long-anticipated debut in the world's third-biggest automotive market. Located in the Bandra-Kurla Complex, an upscale business centre in the financial capital of Mumbai, the showroom will serve as Tesla's flagship retail and experience outlet as the company introduces its EV lineup to Indian customers. Tesla's entry to India comes after years of delays and policy friction, marking a pivotal expansion in a fast-growing consumer base while global sales are plunging and the company faces challenges in its two core markets, China and the United States. Sales of Tesla electric cars fell sharply from April to June as boycotts continued over CEO Elon Musk's political views, keeping buyers away. For India, Tesla's entry signals rising investor confidence and strengthens its move towards clean mobility, although Tesla's higher pricing is likely to make its cars unaffordable for most Indians. The country's nascent electric vehicle market made up a little more than 2 per cent of total car sales last year. But the government wants to change that and increase the electric vehicle share to 30 per cent by 2030. Tesla will begin by importing and selling its popular Y model cars in India. The base price would be 6.78 million rupees (€68,000) for the long-range, rear-wheel drive vehicle, according to a presentation by the company during the showroom launch on Tuesday. Delivery is expected to start from the third quarter, Tesla officials said. By comparison, the price tag is around $44,990 (€37,000) in the US without a federal tax credit. Tesla will compete mostly with German luxury carmakers such as BMW and Mercedes-Benz Group AG, and not budget Indian players like Tata Motors Ltd. and Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd. The luxury car market makes up just about 1 per cent of total vehicle sales. Wooing Tesla The debut by American EV giant, however, would bring in world class technology to the country, auto analyst Gaurav Vangaal said. 'With deeper local investments, Tesla can accelerate India's EV ecosystem, drive innovation, and support the government's goal of higher EV penetration,' said Vangaal, an associate director with S&P Global Mobility. Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government has wooed Tesla for years for its global brand value and to boost the country's clean energy endeavours. Musk invited Indians in April 2016 to preorder the upcoming Tesla Model 3. Several customers placed an order, but the cars never arrived and the bookings had to be refunded. Despite his earlier enthusiasm, in 2019 Musk expressed concern in a post on his social media platform X that import taxes could double prices of Tesla cars, making them 'unaffordable'. Tesla pressed Indian authorities to cut import taxes on EVs, which were up to 100 per cent, to be able to test the local market. New Delhi, however, wanted Tesla to set up manufacturing facilities so a comprehensive policy could benefit all the players in the sector. The dynamics changed after Modi and Musk met in the US in February during a state visit by Modi. Barely a month later, India rolled out a new policy to woo the likes of Tesla, reducing import taxes to 15 per cent from 70 per cent to 100 per cent for EVs priced cheaper than $35,000 (€29,900), as long the automaker committed to building a factory in the country within three years. Soon after, Musk announced he would visit India in April to meet Modi. It was widely expected he would unveil Tesla's plans to set up manufacturing facilities and commit billions of dollars in investments. But Musk cancelled the visit, citing 'very heavy Tesla obligations,' and travelled to China instead. Since then, Tesla has conveyed it does not have an immediate interest in manufacturing in India. US President Donald Trump has said it would be 'unfair' to the US if Tesla builds a factory in India to circumvent that country's tariffs. Besides bringing Tesla to India, Musk's goal has been to launch Starlink's commercial internet services there. The plan got a boost recently after the company secured regulatory clearances. Starlink now needs to secure telecommunications airwaves from the government, which may take at least a couple of months, before the services are formally launched.
Time of India
09-07-2025
- Automotive
- Time of India
Porsche warns of challenging H2 after 6% sales decline
Porsche AG warned of a tough road ahead for sales this year after a slowdown in the lucrative US market and persistent weakness in China. The sportscar maker's global deliveries fell 6 per cent in the first half of the year, an improvement on the sharper decline recorded in the first quarter. In North America, where Porsche relies solely on imports, growth slowed to 10%, from a 37 per cent surge in the three months through March. 'We expect the environment to remain challenging,' Matthias Becker, Porsche's board member for sales and marketing, said Tuesday in a statement. The company cited fierce competition in China as the main factor behind its 28 per cent sales slump in the world's biggest auto market. European luxury-car makers are losing momentum in the US and continue to fall behind in China, where local brands are taking over. Mercedes-Benz Group AG on Monday said its sales dropped 10 per cent in the second quarter after President Donald Trump's tariffs curbed deliveries in the US and China. Porsche is one of the manufacturers most exposed to the levies because it lacks a factory in the US. Addressing its performance in China, the Volkswagen AG-controlled brand pointed to fierce competition in the luxury and electric-vehicle segments that are increasingly dominated by homegrown manufacturers led by BYD Co. Global sales of the 911 fell 9 per cent due to the phased introduction of updated versions. The Macan sport utility vehicle was the brand's top performer, with sales up 15 per cent in the first half — almost 60 per cent of them the all-electric version.
Bloomberg
25-06-2025
- Automotive
- Bloomberg
Mercedes Unveils Electric Hypercar Concept Ahead of Key Summer
By and William Wilkes Save Mercedes-Benz Group AG presented a concept for an electric hypercar incorporating technology that will be available to customers from next year as the manufacturer pushes further into next-generation vehicles. Created by the automaker's AMG division, the GT XX is the first prototype built on Mercedes' upcoming electric sports-car platform, allowing the German company to showcase technology that will go into road cars from 2026.
Newsweek
20-06-2025
- Automotive
- Newsweek
AI Impact Awards 2025: Mercedes-Benz Redefines Luxury in Its New Vehicles
Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. A new generation of Mercedes-Benz vehicles allows owners to experience the benefits of artificial intelligence (AI) as part of their daily life. Starting with the CLA-Class model, Mercedes-Benz's next-generation infotainment operating system will incorporate AI search results, customizations and recommendations. "We will excite our customers with a full rollout of uncompromising cars. They will be an intelligent part of their life. All of them come with a fully integrated tech stack and leverage the latest developments in AI," Markus Schäfer, member of the board of management at Mercedes-Benz Group AG and chief technology officer for development and procurement at Mercedes-Benz, said during the company's Capital Markets Day presentation earlier this year. "The CLA represents our first software-defined vehicle – the cleverest car we've ever made, so it made perfect sense to showcase what's possible when AI is built into the foundation rather than added afterward. We're not just launching a new car – we're introducing a new category of vehicle that learns, adapts, and grows with you. The CLA gives us the perfect platform to demonstrate that luxury isn't just about materials and craftsmanship anymore – it's now also about intelligence that understands you," Magnus Östberg, chief software officer at Mercedes-Benz AG, told Newsweek. Mercedes-Benz has been utilizing AI in various projects for decades, dating back to 1996 when machine learning was first introduced into vehicles. "We actually have been building toward this moment since we established our Silicon Valley R&D hub in 1994 – 30 years of preparation. The technology has finally caught up to our vision. We're not chasing AI trends; we're delivering capabilities we've been developing for decades. Plus, with over 3 million vehicles already using our AI features (ChatGPT), we've proven that we can deploy this technology at scale, not just in concept cars," Östberg said. AI Impact Winner: Mercedes-Benz AI Impact Winner: Mercedes-Benz Newsweek Illustration Mercedes-Benz is the winner of Newsweek's AI Impact award in the category of Best Outcomes, Automotive/Transportation UX Systems for the luxury experience it offers owners by utilizing AI to transform vehicles into empathetic, hyper-personalized assistants. It was recognized as one of 38 winners of Newsweek's AI Impact Awards 2025 across more than a dozen categories recognizing excellent across a number of industries. "Luxury used to be about what your car had – now it's what it can do for you. True luxury means technology that disappears into the background until the exact moment you need it, then delivers precisely what you want. The process is invisible, seamless, and secure, providing fast and accurate answers every time. It's the difference between owning a sophisticated machine and having an intelligent and empathetic companion," a Mercedes-Benz spokesperson said. Modern Mercedes-Benz vehicles are a combination of intelligence and emotion. They are created with quality, safety, comfort and design in focus. Three types of AI carry the baton from that point: conversational, behavioral and agentic. Interior of the Mercedes-Benz CLA sedan with artificial intelligence-enabled infotainment system shown. Interior of the Mercedes-Benz CLA sedan with artificial intelligence-enabled infotainment system shown. Mercedes-Benz Conversational AI allows to have natural conversations with users. Behavioral AI delivers a proactive user interface experience with personalized recommendations and next-level automated driving. Agentic AI takes it a step further with hyper-personalized user experience. As more AI-enabled functionalities are brought to market, Mercedes-Benz vehicle owners can rest assured that the company has put privacy and safety at the forefront, keeping full control over all data, customer interfaces, sensors and actuators. The hyper-personalized and immersive experience that allows comes courtesy of the implementation of ChatGPT and Google Gemini. ChatGPT powers the natural dialogue functionality of the system, while Gemini provides conversational navigation about location details like restaurant ratings and popular dishes. selects the best agent based on the voice prompt given by the user, in the back end. MBUX Surround Navigation includes spatially aware navigation details that are technologically layered on top of conversational navigation information. It offers best-in-class Google and AMAP routing and is also updatable in nearly real-time. AI allows users to have conversations with their car's computing system, with contextual memory. The software has an awareness of previous exchanges in order to refine query results. Further, AI enables an owner's car to learn their preferences and generate query results based on those. Unlike many competitors' AI-enhanced technologies, provides a seamless connection between an AI assistant and the vehicles' complex systems. Users can utilize the technology to adjust climate control, interact via voice and control ambient lighting, among other functions. "Mercedes-Benz sees artificial intelligence (AI) as a groundbreaking technology and an opportunity for even more innovative products, processes and services. We have been using AI for many years in various projects along the entire value chain to improve products and processes as well as to automate repetitive routine tasks or support creative tasks. The goal: to continuously offer better solutions for our customers, to make the everyday work of our employees easier and to strengthen our competitiveness," Östberg said. Other Places Where Mercedes Is Using AI The company plans to utilize AI more extensively in its manufacturing operations in the future. By adopting a digital-first approach, the company will use digital twins to allow greater production plan flexibility, easing obstacles in production ramp-up times and retooling ahead of implementation, lessening the interruption of real-world production. AI will be used to streamline processes, building on the 19 percent reduction in fixed costs that the company achieved between 2019 and 2024. An additional 10 percent reduction is expected in the next three years. Additionally, Mercedes has adopted AI-enhanced Apptronik Apollo humanoid robots to perform some manufacturing tasks. Initial testing with Apollo focuses on production, with the robots performing repetitive tasks within internal logistics operations, transporting components or modules to the production line. The company's skilled human workers then assemble and conduct initial quality checks on the transported items. To see the full list of AI Impact winners, visit the official page for Newsweek's AI Impact Awards. Newsweek will continue the conversation on meaningful AI innovations at our AI Impact Summit from June 23 to 25 in Sonoma, California. Click here for more information and to register for the event.
Yahoo
13-05-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Mercedes moving production of its GLC SUV from Germany to the US
Germany's Mercedes-Benz Group AG confirmed that it will move the production of its best-selling GLC sport utility vehicle to the US from Germany, reported Bloomberg. The carmaker announced at the beginning of this month that it would move the production of 'a core segment vehicle' to the other side of the Atlantic, but until now, they haven't named the model. Mercedes also declined to comment on whether the step is a result of the US President's tariff policy, adding a levy of 25% to the original 2.5% car imports to the US were already facing. 'If you see what we want to achieve with volumes on this model, it makes sense to bring it to the US,' Mercedes North America chief Jason Hoff said during a press briefing on Monday. Currently, the German-made GLC is Mercedes' most popular US import, with a starting price of $49,250 (€44,193). Mercedes sold more than 64,000 of this hybrid model last year in the US, more than 50% more than in the previous year. Related Mercedes-Benz stock dips after pulling profit guidance on tariff fears BMW Group profits plunge but outlook maintained despite tariff pressures Volkswagen Group sees plunge in performance as US tariffs pose risks The production of the car will take place in Mercedes' Tuscaloosa, Alabama, plant. The output of the US-made GLC SUV is planned to start in 2027. Other carmakers also announced investments in the US, as they aim to reduce costs that the US President's tariff policy brings about, by making manufacturing local, just as the US President wants. In the case of Mercedes, there is no information about how many more jobs this step would create or if there is any additional financial investment planned. Yet, the White House hastily welcomed the decision. They also highlighted that BMW is considering boosting production at its South Carolina plant, Stellantis will re-open its plant in Illinois, Honda plans to shift production of the Civic from Japan to the US, and Hyundai plans a $20 billion investment in the country, among others. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
