[Venkatesh]

With prices ranging from Rs 55 lakh - Rs 61 lakh, the new Mercedes-Benz C-Class commands quite the premium over its rivals like the BMW 3 Series, Audi A4, Volvo S60 and more.

Here’s a quick look at how it stacks up on the price graph.

[Delano]

Good review guys, thanks! Really looking forward to more information and drive review of the C 300d, i think that would be the car with the right spec engine to complement the new looks of the C! Also, at the price point expected of the C 300d, wonder whether an enthusiast would be temped to just consider the A 35 AMG afterall?

[Puneet0051]

C class has hit it out of the park, this way we can see a pricing going upwards of 1 Cr in next 5 years.

Luxury petrols from competition seem to offer so much more value. Suddenly they seem to be absolute bang for buck.

Remember the time when underpowered 89bhp Corolla diesel sold more nos. Than octavia and others in segment put together so much for the toyota brand. Wont be suprised if Merc petrol sells decently well in comparison to Beemer & Audi put together.

Leaving NCR i don't see why would anybody pick petrol merc over diesel��

Liked these Alloys a whole better than older W205.

[prateekvinayak]

Wow, if Mercedes is following this thread post the price reveals they must be nervous a little. But I think Mercedes knows what they are doing. They really want to milk the brand value of the three-pointed star. There will always be enough takers for it.

Additionally, does a 60L+ buyer really look for value for money? They'd want a car with the swagger and the bling, the shiniest one on the road and that's where this car really comes ahead. The design and the interiors are making me drool!! Look at it this way, a 3 series and a C class zoom by, which one are you checking out?

I can only imagine what it must be like to see it and be in it in person. The wow factor is going to make the difference for this one

[inwester]

Originally Posted by VALLURIS

A C 200 costs about 36 lakhs in US ex Showroom. In India the starting price is 55 lakhs after our super high govt taxes on automobiles.

Few things here. There is no C200 in the US, there is only C300. The C300 starts at around $45k + taxes (about 2-7%) depending on the state, so around $50k. If you want a reasonably loaded one maybe $55k. Most of the cars sold here in the category are also 4Matic (or AWD). I'm also not sure what all they do in terms of cost cutting in India, e.g. there are no leather seats in the Indian C300. I'm pretty sure in the US you can get an upgrade. The 'full' safety systems and ADAS will be there in the US version, pretty sure not in the Indian version.

So if you compare apples to apples, $55k in the US for a C300 its around 42 lakhs, and C300d in India is around 72~76 lakhs. That's a hefty premium. No 2 ways about it.

The GST+CESS is around 50% of the vehicle factory invoice and then add whatever state taxes to that. For Kerala and Karnataka that's 20% or more. All said and done if you are buying a luxury car 50% of the total cash outlay is taxes. I also never understood how the state road tax can be on the GST+CESS, which is already a tax, instead of the factory invoice. So tax on top of tax.

Yes, the problem with the prices are the taxes on cars by both central and state governments. Industry as a whole should do something about it, like the Toyota vice chairman once said.

[prakhar1998]

My biggest qualm with such launches is how this impacts market dynamics. It worries me as a potential luxury car buyer how this will inevitably move all prices up into unreasonable territory. It is really evident that the rich actually have gotten richer after the pandemic.

There are only a few manufacturers (read Toyota, Mercedes Benz) that can command ridiculously high prices, and still have people flocking to their showrooms. I sincerely hope this one is different and people show Mercedes the mirror and let them get back to earth.

We bought our E-Class in 2014 for less than 55 lakhs on-road Delhi and it has over 93,000km. Although the car has proven to be an excellent workhorse, I am not turned off by the new Mercedes that seems to full of itself.

Hope those days come back when luxury cars used to have Rs.10+ lakh discounts and did not have price increases every hour of the day.

Also, a 1.5 liter engine, really?

[Siddarth_Ramani]

Guys is there any financial instruments where I can invest in the cars like Fortuner, Innova and Mercs?. Honestly these are doing way better than my portfolio.

[GreasyCarb55]

Originally Posted by Venkatesh

Mercedes-Benz India has launched the new W206 C-class.

Prices start from Rs 55 lakh for the C 200 and goes up to Rs 61 lakh for the C 300d.

Deliveries to start this month.

While the W206 C-Class is a good car for people who prefer to be chauffeur driven (C200 and C220d) and for the enthusiast (C300d) it is undeniably over priced. (All numbers below are OTR Bangalore)

The BMW 330i offers comparable performance (255hp and 400nm to 265hp and 550nm on the C300d) for 20 lakh less (56.6 lakh vs 76.7 lakh) and let's say you do have around 80 lakh to spend on a German enthusiast sedan why not get the BMW M340i with the glorious 3.0L B58 Turbo Inline-6 pushing 380hp and 500nm and AWD for 5 lakh more?

And if you want a chauffeur driven luxury car you have the Audi A4 which is anywhere between 51 Lakh (Premium 40 TFSI) for the base model, 58 Lakh (Premium Plus 40 TFSI) and 61 lakh (Technology 40 TFSI) for the top of the line variant, even the top variant is about 7 lakh cheaper than the cheapest W206 C-Class (C200) and that is before you consider all the fat discounts Audi has been giving out. Example - BHPian sauravpat's A4 Premium (43.5 Lakh OTR Pune)


And as a final blow to the W206 C-Class the Audi A6 (Premium Plus 45 TFSI) which competes with the bigger BMW 5 Series and the Mercedes E-Class can be had for 5 lakh over the C220d. Almost $90,000 for a C200 is ridiculous in our already overpriced luxury car market, for context $90,000 gets you a fully loaded E53 AMG in the US, Burmester Audio system, Night package, Heads up display, AMG sport exhaust etc

[redeff]

Now thing to be noted is that the base trim level is the 'Avant' version which has traditionally been the higher version of the Benz range (At least for the C Class). I guess a lower version can be expected in due time, which could rationalise the prices accordingly. That lower version would be in line with the BMW 'Sports' models.

[GoBlue]

Does this new C Class atleast get cooled (ventilated) front seats which the comparable BMWs don’t have? That could be a saving grace.

Ridiculous pricing. A Superb L&K would be an easy choice for me personally, over this silly C200 Petrol.

[GreasyCarb55]

Originally Posted by redeff

Now thing to be noted is that the base trim level is the 'Avant' version which has traditionally been the higher version of the Benz range (At least for the C Class). I guess a lower version can be expected in due time, which could rationalise the prices accordingly. That lower version would be in line with the BMW 'Sports' models.

And at what price? The only model lower then the C200 and C220d is the C180 and C200d, at that point you're essentially paying the same or if not more money than a 330i for a comparatively underpowered Mercedes (C180 170hp and C200d 160hp).

[sudhir_vag]

Originally Posted by GoBlue

Ridiculous pricing. A Superb L&K would be an easy choice for me personally, over this silly C200 Petrol.

Was having the same dilemma some months back. Glad i made the decision to go with Superb and even with respect to features there is a big miss. Commanding around 20+ lac premium for 20 bhp increase in power and same torque numbers doesn't sound like a good justification. E and BMW 2 LWB looks like a VFM all of a sudden.

[veedub89]

God damn the C is expensive!

The new C is as expensive as the E was a few years back.
I've heard people making this argument that the newer cars on sale today are far superior than the cars from the more premium segments from a few years back and therefore it makes sense to pay more for the same category of car today. But are they really?

If you were to compare the E from say 2016 to the C being launched today, what do you get extra?

Features are more from before, obviously.

I am thinking wireless car play, android auto, more safety tech, more screens, more creature comforts etc. here.
But the new C is definitely smaller than the old E, regardless of the growth in its dimensions. At the end of the day, the C is not the E.

So what are we paying extra for? Just the features at this point.
Enough to say that the car has now become nearly double of what it used to be before? I don't think so.

[Tutenkhamen]

Originally Posted by GTO

it has serious competition from below & above its price range. The 3-Series is an enthusiast's delight (has a LWB version too), the A4 is value-for-money, while the S60 is an extremely impressive machine. Would just ignore the Jaguar XE from the competition list due to its dimwitted AT gearbox.

Slightly OT, but with all due respect @GTO, XE is a head turner. Black allows with all gloss black grill and bodywork is any-day a better proposition than this ridiculously priced C.

The 247 horses give out enough juice to check the base (petrol and diesel both) baby-S in rear view (barring C300d and I respect the performance numbers here).

At 44 OTR, I’d buy XE again before paying a visit to local Benz! A dud-benz

[VALLURIS]

Originally Posted by inwester

Few things here. There is no C200 in the US, there is only C300. The C300 starts at around $45k + taxes (about 2-7%) depending on the state, so around $50k. If you want a reasonably loaded one maybe $55k. Most of the cars sold here in the category are also 4Matic (or AWD). I'm also not sure what all they do in terms of cost cutting in India, e.g. there are no leather seats in the Indian C300. I'm pretty sure in the US you can get an upgrade. The 'full' safety systems and ADAS will be there in the US version, pretty sure not in the Indian version.

So if you compare apples to apples, $55k in the US for a C300 its around 42 lakhs, and C300d in India is around 72~76 lakhs. That's a hefty premium. No 2 ways about it.

The GST+CESS is around 50% of the vehicle factory invoice and then add whatever state taxes to that. For Kerala and Karnataka that's 20% or more. All said and done if you are buying a luxury car 50% of the total cash outlay is taxes. I also never understood how the state road tax can be on the GST+CESS, which is already a tax, instead of the factory invoice. So tax on top of tax.

Yes, the problem with the prices are the taxes on cars by both central and state governments. Industry as a whole should do something about it, like the Toyota vice chairman once said.

I stand corrected on the C200 availability in US.

However, my point that Mercedes pricing on C Class is relatively cheaper to what Toyota charges for its products in India is still valid.

A Mercedes C 300 on road price in India is expensive by 70% compared to US, on the other hand a Toyota LC Prado 3.0D model is 100% expensive compared to US. ( 82,000 $ for a VX when compared to 1.24cr for the same model in India)

Both the companies pay taxes in the same slabs.

Anyways as a prospective buyer in this segment I felt the price was in my expectation.