[sandeepmohan]

I love the new C except for the pricing. The new design language for Mercedes screams youth. I get the feeling Mercedes is the new Ultimate Driving Machine.

I don't know current pricing. Back in December 2012, the Audi A6 2.0 TDI with full led lighting package, Bose Audio, MMI without navigation cost 50 on road in Pondicherry.

[maxbhp]

Originally Posted by harishpr

This will easily translate to half crore onroad in bangalore.
50 lacs for C class, who would have thought about this... It's bizarre

52.3 To be exact. A known friend has taken delivery of the same and the dealer was claiming that to be first C Class sold in the country which I doubt . Neverthless the owner is happy on a long drive today.

He had zeroed in on :

• BMW 328I
• Merceded Benz C200 [New Shape]
• Volvo S60
• Merceded GLA
• Mercedes C Class
• BMW X3

But Finally bought Mercedes C Class for

• New Shape
• Interiors
• Overall dynamism in design
• Fairly decent ground clearance

[abhishek46]

Originally Posted by fine69

Is this going to be the import from South Africa? From the comments section of this article it looks like most folks aren't happy with the product quality coming out of South African plant.

http://www.caradvice.com.au/302384/2...-south-africa/

And is it just me who hates the rear styling of the car?

Attachment 1312123

Pic Source

+1 I hate the rear styling too..! A bit too stubby to digest.

[PlatzdaTurbo]

Simply stuff. Clearly they are out of their minds.

4 cylinder petrol engine in a C class with an OTR price of almost 50 (??) Mumbai. I dont care what brand value Merc think they have but this is plain bonkers.

A4 3.0 TDi was 38.4 ex-showroom in 2010. A car with all wheel drive and a v6 diesel with 500NM. Yes i am aware a lot of factors (currency weakening , taxation , duty etc) are responsible for the kind of pricing difference between 10 and 14 but in any case, this is obscene.

[miharbe]

Seems 40 lacs is the new 30 lacs! Crazy pricing by Mercedes!

I am extremely skeptical of the prices going down significantly even with local assembly as I feel Mercedes wants to leave some room for the CLA which should be priced bang in between the top end versions of the B Class and the lowest version of the C Class. Unfortunately this leaves little room and means that the C Class prices in all probability will remain in this region.

While the car looks worth every penny and a tad better than the competition someone considering the C Class for the badge will definitely consider the E Class for the same reason at this price point (better snob value at similar price point!). Most people don't care if its 200/250/350 C/E/S Class is what matters!

Would be extremely happy is proven wrong!

[n:CorE]

My god it looks pretty! Fantastic stance and road presence. Love the new design! Its very fresh without being unnecessarily quirky.

50-Lakhs on-road for this one! Boy thats bloody steep! Expect the CKD version to be stripped out of all that bling. The Burmester sound system is definitely going to be sacked and probably the reverse cam, touchpad (will be replaced by the click-wheel), pano sunroof (replaced by a regular one), maybe even adjustable dampers? (the agility select will only work for steering, gearbox and throttle).

IMHO, only if they manage to toss these out, will they manage to price the diesel variants in CKD slightly sensibly. Otherwise right now, only a handful few will actually have the heart to throw down the kinda money that could get you a car from a whole segment above for this C-Class.

In all fairness, I wouldn't exactly be amazed by a person who actually decides to get one of these at this price (as was I with the E launch edition). I mean it is built in Germany, all that additional equipment is really juicy and you'd have that exclusivity with the car until the CKD rolls off the lines, but then again the 328i comes with as much if not more equipment (if im not wrong) and much more power.

Slightly OT: I believe the 328i is a limited production run CKD. Like they build some for a year? How much does that cost in that form?

[Stiggy]

Originally Posted by Sahil

At the moment probably not as the 5 series price went up a lot with the facelift. However, I did get a pre-facelift 520d last year just when the facelift came out for 38 lakhs ex-showroom since dealers were keen to clear pre-facelift stock.

I got a facelifted model just 3 or so weeks ago for 52L OTR w/out any of the BSI Packages, BMW Assure, etc. Came to 56L with all the packages.

[PlatzdaTurbo]

Originally Posted by n:CorE

My god it looks pretty! Fantastic stance and road presence. Love the new design! Its very fresh without being unnecessarily quirky.

50-Lakhs on-road for this one! Boy thats bloody steep! Expect the CKD version to be stripped out of all that bling. The Burmester sound system is definitely going to be sacked and probably the reverse cam, touchpad (will be replaced by the click-wheel), pano sunroof (replaced by a regular one), maybe even adjustable dampers? (the agility select will only work for steering, gearbox and throttle).

In all fairness, I wouldn't exactly be amazed by a person who actually decides to get one of these at this price (as was I with the E launch edition). I mean it is built in Germany, all that additional equipment is really juicy and you'd have that exclusivity with the car until the CKD rolls off the lines, but then again the 328i comes with as much if not more equipment (if im not wrong) and much more power.

Here goes -

- My cars a CBU which has Audi Exclusive Upholstery in red & black. A combination not seen on any other A4 in India. Heck the colour combination isnt even offered to this date. Youl see the pictures even in my thread.

- The A6 and A7 EVEN TODAY come with a 12 speaker(i think) Bose system if you shell out more where as mine came standard with 15 speaker Bang & Olufsen, a system not offered on any car south of the A8 or Q7 today.

- Merc might sell a few 100 of these in the name of exclusivity or 'first lot'. There are 3/4 spotted A4 3.0 TDi's in India in the last 5 odd years on this forum if you include mine & even among those mine remains a special edition. I rest my case.

- This thing has peppy performance TODAY with 7.x seconds to 100 where as mine was ~ 6.1-2 seconds to 100 STOCK. This was 4 YEARS AGO.

- AWD & V6 vs 4 cyl & 2WD.

I repeat , i am aware of all factors that have influenced the over all increase in car prices since 2010 but this remains a C class and hence an A4 / 3 series rival . Making it looks like a half sized S class doesnt mean they price half the price of an S class. We paid substantially less than 50 L in 2010 and even after all that bargaining we felt it was hefty for an A4 inspite of everything the car offers apart obliterating performance and leech like grip.

For these reasons , as fantastic a car the new C might be its only the pricing at this point that is enough to make it look like 1 stupid car.

[Vitalstatistiks]

The shock new C-class pricing might actually be working in it's favor. You see unlike the budget conscious sub-10 lakh rupee market, where once you are dubbed as 'too pricey' you go out of reckoning forever (think Jazz, Fiesta), this segment is aspirational and folks want to have the more expensive cars. In one stroke, C-class is now suddenly, "super expensive", "Baby-S Class" and hence, worth showing off all day, to oneself and others and not just the "cheaper Mercedes".

So, when Mercedes either (1) drop the prices surreptitiously, or (2) introduce new models at lower prices, or (3) dealers give good discount, or (4) all 3, this car would sell like hot cakes. Not be a dud like Jazz or Fiesta. Well done, Mercedes !

[joju]

Originally Posted by abhishek46

+1 I hate the rear styling too..! A bit too stubby to digest.

I still find W201 the best looking. My ordering in terms of looks:

W201 > W204 > W205 > W202 > W203

Joju

[Siva]

The 13 speaker Burmester sound system seems to be given a miss in the launched version even though it was there in all the test drive cars given to auto journalists. That's really sad on part of Mercedes. Not sure if any of the other features too have been quietly dropped.

[np23]

Well, I visited the Mercedes showroom on Sumday to pick up my E class's RC and to my surprise there were quite a few W205s parked outside the showroom and I was also allowed to have a quick drive in one.
I can confirm that as opposed to the other reviews claiming about the fully loaded model , the C class which I drove was well loaded but not the top of the line version,as it did not have the burmester audio system as mentioned in the other reviews and neither did it have the push button start system and it was the regular key turn for ignition, so I am sure there are slightly stripped down variants here as well.
As from the quick glance, I still prefer the W204s stiffer and heavier feel, though this ones much more loaded and will obviously take the game forward.

[ajaypjayaraj]

New design and everything looks good for Mercedes. But pricing looks good for the rivals! And this is the case of almost all new launches from Mercedes. After all the initial excitement of the new launch settles down, finally the trio is going to be compared by the customers thinking of buying a C, 3 or A4. With this steep pricing, obviously the huge price difference between the cars of same segment is gonna work against Merc. There could be a few, who goes for the most expensive of the lot for that exclusivity but that wont convert into volumes, as even in this segment, an informed buyer would weigh things against price paid before arriving at a decision. Good car but bad pricing.

[ABbaby]

My take is that Mercedes has got its pricing strategy wrong. They will certainly have to discount heavily or introduce significantly lower end/price models if they want to move some decent numbers. The idea of being positioned as a 'discount' brand to me does more harm than good. Build great products and price them fairly. Mercedes please reclaim some of that shine of the Tristar which has already faded more than it should have over the past 5 years. (Take a leaf out of the pages of the Ecosport - which I think has managed to build enormous credibility for a brand that was almost written off)

[hot wheels]

Just checked the import listing on zauba.com. Mercedes india is also importing certain units of the c220 cdi. My guess is that initial units of the diesel w205 will also be cbu. Followed by the regular cld units..