It has been just four months since Mercedes-Benz had launched its GLC luxury SUV in India.

The SUV has quickly become one of the bestselling models of the German luxury car maker in the Indian market.

To keep up with growing demand, Mercedes-Benz India has decided to start assembling the GLC at its Indian plant at Chakan, in the outskirts of Pune, Maharashtra, instead of importing the SUV as CBU (Completely Built Units) as it was doing till now. The CEO and the Executive Director, Operations, of Mercedes-Benz, India have rolled out the ‘Made in India GLC’ from its manufacturing unit in India.

With the local assembling of the Mercedes-Benz GLC SUV at its Indian plant, the German automaker can cope up with the major rise in demand for its SUV and will also help the company in reducing the price of the vehicle. If the SUV is imported as a CBU, it will attract a huge amount of tax and duties in India, which will, in turn, reflect on the high pricing of the automobile.

Details of the Power Train

Just like the other popular SUVs, the GLC from Mercedes-Benz is also available with both petrol and diesel optioned engines. Both the types of engines are capable of acquainting an automatic transmission with 9-speed amplitude. The GLC 300 is power driven by petrol motor which has a capacity of 1991cc and it is capable of whipping out a power of 245PS and 370 Nm. The GLC 220 runs on a diesel motor, which has a capacity of a good 2143cc unit and can yield a power of 170PS and 400 Nm.

Prices Slashed in Indian Market

Until now the Mercedes-Benz GLC which was being imported as a CBU had its petrol variant being priced at Rs. 50.7 lakh, whereas the SUV version powered by the diesel engine had its prices starting from Rs. 50.9 lakh. The prices are the ex-showroom rates at Pune, Maharashtra. However, now with the local assembling of the SUV, the Made in India version of the GLC will have a more competitive price badge of Rs. 47.90 lakh for the diesel variant and costs Rs. 51.90 lakh for the petrol variant. These prices are the ex-showroom rates at Delhi, India.

The Made in India GLC SUV, which is positioned in between the Mercedes-Benz GLA, the company’s entry level SUV, and the extra premium GLE from the German car maker, is all set to compete with the Audi Q5 and the BMW X3.