[rohanjf]

Originally Posted by avira_tk

I think local assembly and a substantial price decrease happen only if the engine is assembled here, in this case the engine is imported so any real savings or cost advantage goes out the window.

I remember reading in Team BHP about Force Motors assembling engines for Mercedes. If I remember right, GTO himself mentioned that.

Of course, it is possible that the current engine is not yet assembled in India.

[Bluebeem]

Originally Posted by avira_tk

I think local assembly and a substantial price decrease happen only if the engine is assembled here, in this case the engine is imported so any real savings or cost advantage goes out the window.

If I remember correctly, the government had clarified the definition of CKDs saying that only engines which are imported with dismantled unassembled gearboxes shall be given the concessions. Else it'll be considered a CBU.

Secondly, I think the convenience of picking up the engine from their parent facility instead of having to go through the trouble of setting up an engine assembly here would save cost rather than increase it. Considering the fact that they're getting to import the engine from a location where they achieve economies of scale and yet get the tax concessions for complying with Indian CKD import norms, the reduction in price should be much higher.

I'm not familiar with the exact numbers but I reckon the import duty on CKDs is less than half of what is paid on a CBU. In which case the difference In Price should be larger.

[Turbanator]

I believe in past there used to be 3 type of classifications -

CKD - Complete knock down Kits with duties like 10 % but sometime in 2011/2012 they disallowed this concessional duties to Car Manufacturers who used to import Engines / Gearboxes.
SKD - Semi Knock Down about 62 % - for companies who import engines / gearboxes and partially built chassis .
CBU - Complete Built units - about 110 or higher as there are some additional CVD levies

[PPS]

Looks very striking in Blue!

Source: 2014 Mercedes S Class Electric Blue by DC

[akshay4587]

Does look striking in that color.
I hope he didn't touch those interiors

[vagu]

Is it a demo car? Because it sports German number plates.

Originally Posted by PPS

Looks very striking in Blue!

Source: 2014 Mercedes S Class Electric Blue by DC

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[PPS]

Originally Posted by vagu

Is it a demo car? Because it sports German number plates.

It isn't a demo car & is registered in India. Many cars sport these Euro style plates here!

[cityvic]

Looks stunning.
Definitely the hottest W222 in India.

[_raVan_]

The S-Class diesel will be launched from June 2014.

Following the launch of the locally assembled 2014 Mercedes S Class petrol in March this year, the diesel variant of the flagship luxury sedan will go on sale from June 5. Mercedes India have also confirmed that the S Class diesel will be sold in its S 350 CDI variant.

Power for the S 350 CDI comes from a 3.0-liter V6 engine capable of producing 254 hp at 3,600 rpm and 620 Nm of torque between 1,600-2,400 rpm. A 7-speed dual-clutch gearbox is used to send the drive to the rear wheels. With this engine, the S Class can sprint from 0-100 km/h in 6.8 seconds and achieve a top-speed electronically limited to 250 km/h. In the European driving cycle, Mercedes claims the S 350 CDI will achieve 16.66 km/l.

Source: IAB

[PPS]

Mercedes Benz India has launched the S350 CDI at Rs 1.07cr ex-showroom, Pune!

http://www.rushlane.com/mercedes-s-c...-12120299.html

[Aditya]

Mercedes-Benz has launched the S350 CDI in India at a price of Rs. 1.07 crore (ex-showroom, Pune).

Link to Team-BHP News Article

[noopster]

Mercedes-Benz, which celebrates 20 years since its entry into the Indian market later this year, today announced the launch of the New S-Class 350 CDI, to be assembled at its Chakan, Pune plant. This marks the entry of the diesel S-class into the country, following the petrol-only S500 which was announced as a "launch edition" in January 2014 at Rs. 1.57 crore but later as a CKD at Rs. 1.36 crore (ex-showroom, Mumbai). The diesel variant is priced at Rs. 1.07 crore (ex-showroom, Pune/Mumbai).



The S350 CDI was launched this morning by Mercedes-Benz India MD & CEO Eberhard Kern at the company's "Centre of Excellence" housed in the Chakan plant.










As opposed to the 4663 cc, twin-turbocharged V8 petrol engine that produces 459 hp and 700 Nm of torque, the 2987 cc V6 engine powering the S350 CDI produces a relatively tame 255 bhp and 620 Nm and gets to the ton mark in 6.8s (V8 petrol = under 5 seconds). It is powered by a 7G-TRONIC PLUS 7-speed automatic transmission.

What the diesel offers - and the V8 doesn't - is practicality. You can run the S350 CDI on regular diesel and enjoy far superior FE & tank range (than the S500). We can safely assume that the diesel will account for a majority of the S-Class' sales, going forward.




The company also announced on the occasion of World Environment Day that it had commissioned a 100 kW Rooftop Solar Plant at its Chakan facility.


The diesel engine specs:


The S350 CDI is priced more competitively (21% lower) than the S500. Mercedes claims to be ramping up its Chakan plant to double its existing 10,000 unit capacity by this year end, higher than any other Indian luxury carmaker. Another interesting statistic shared by the company was its apparent "0% blue-collar attrition" which MBIL claims is a sign of high employee satisfaction.

More pictures of the S350:






Interior pics (forgive the quality, lighting was awful):









As per company officials, the S350 is not as loaded as its petrol sibling in terms of features (a request to provide a comparative feature list is pending and will be updated when available). The diesel variant still offers a 13-speaker Burmester audio system featuring a 9-channel amp as standard, an "energizing hot stone massage" for the rear seat, a "chauffeur package" that makes upto 77 mm additional legroom on the front passenger side, AIRMATIC suspension, Active Park Assist, ESP, 8 airbags with PRE SAFE for enhanced driver & passenger safety, adaptive brakes with HOLD function and ASR with Hill Start Assist. The alloys and interior "WOOD EUKALYPTUS" trim seem prima facie different from what was offered on the S500- I thought they looked fine but there were some present who had strong opinions regarding these!

The company has a network of 64 dealers across 36 cities, including 7 new dealerships this year so far, among them Bhubaneshwar, Raipur, Bhopal and Mohali. In addition Mercedes has also launched three new AMG Experience centers in the metropolises of Mumbai, Delhi and Bangalore.

[cityvic]

Had posted this on another Mercedes Benz thread a few days back.

More details on the S350 CDI W222.

The S350 CDI CKD will have all the features of the S500 CKD apart from.

- Front seat memory package replaced by fully electric seats
- Surround view camera replaced by reverse camera
- 19" Multispoke Staggered Wheels replaced by ugly 18" wheels
- Twin exhaust pipes on the bumper as on the S500 get hidden on the S350 CDI

The S500 CKD will be getting a touchpad to replace the telephone keypad from August this year.

[Joe M]

Originally Posted by cityvic

Had posted this on another Mercedes Benz thread a few days back.

That seems to be a moderate list of omissions. This marks the S350 as a true hot seller luxury saloon. The surround camera was a very nice feature though.

If Mercedes would some time later bring the MBC(Magic Body Control) too, they wouldn't even have any competition to even consider serious.

[androdev]

The price seems to be pretty OK given the introductory price of S500 and that it is a diesel motor. I have a feeling that the car is significantly under equipped to offer at that price.

-Front seats look pretty de-spec'ed - I can see the comfort head rests are missing, memory-buttons/heating/cooling button panel is missing (it only has cooling I think). Missing memory buttons pretty much sets the tone for how generous they want to be with this car.

-There is a panel above the light switch/knob which looks nearly blank so I suspect lot of features like night vision, surround camera, etc. won't be there.

- Rear seats have plain seat belts, I suspect it means the seats don't recline fully like first class.

- Only by looking at rear-COMMAND one can tell if the rear seats have mutli-contour and massage seats, as they no longer have physical buttons to control these.

- Rear seat belt holders are not recessed (and pop out on demand)

- Not sure if they have their perfume-thingy and fridge in the rear.

- Quite surprised that they are offering Burmester as standard given they took away the above things. Maybe they don't have a substitute yet. Good for the customer!

Originally Posted by Joe M

If Mercedes would some time later bring the MBC(Magic Body Control) too, they wouldn't even have any competition to even consider serious.

Indian govt doesn't allow RADAR in private cars, so MBC, etc. features can't be offered here.