Mercedes-Benz has launched its first assembly plant for EVs outside Germany in Chakan, Pune.
Globally, the luxury carmaker operates with six completely knocked down units (CKD) plants.
The import of cars as completely built unit (CBU) attract a higher tax in India while for the cars that are assembled in the country as completely knocked down (CKD), their effective import duty is comparatively lower.
The annual investment in the plant is in the range of Rs 150 crore to Rs 250 crore, based on the number of models. So far, Mercedes has invested INR 2,600 crore on it.
With a manufacturing capacity of about 20,000 units, the company plans to produce over 16,000 units in 2022.
As of now, the body shop is running in two shifts, and the assembly shop which is running in one shift will go for two shifts from October 2022.