Mercedes Indian product planning department decided to save money by offering lower-tech headlamps for what is already a very expensive offering in India
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Mercedes India Cuts Corners with Cheap LED Reflector Headlamps
Mercedes India is offering the GLA, GLC, and E-Class in India with cheap LED reflector-based headlamps. In contrast, BMW India is offering an aesthetically pleasing and technologically advanced projector-based LED headlamp setup on the X1, X3, and 5 Series. Apart from the form factor of signature styling, a headlamp with very good illumination is a must, especially for nighttime highway driving.
The sad part is Mercedes does have a hi-tech digital LED headlamp as an option in its global portfolio; however, the Mercedes Indian product planning department decided to save money by offering lower-tech headlamps for what is already a very expensive offering in India. For the luxury segment, this is not acceptable.
For reference, the cheapest car in India with projector LED headlamps is the Maruti Ignis Alpha variant, priced at ₹ 7.6 lakhs.
But a surprising package in the mass-market segment is the LED dual projector headlamp setup on the Maruti Brezza Zxi and Zxi+ variants. Illumination in a dark room test or in real-world conditions is pretty good. Quite interesting to see how Maruti’s engineers were able to slip such an expensive headlamp setup under the nose of their accountants, as the latter count every penny in the Maruti world, to remain profitable.
Having said that, a projector LED setup per se doesn’t always ensure good illumination; case in point is the Maruti Grand Vitara, with its not-so-good illumination in real-world conditions. Whereas the Maruti XL6, even with its LED reflector setup, does offer better illumination in the mass market segment, though, it is not aesthetically pleasing to look at compared to the Ertiga’s halogen projector setup with its intricate detailing.
So why is Mercedes India doing this?
In Europe, carmakers follow this different headlamp option offering as an upselling marketing strategy.
For illustration, this is how it works : Offer the car with a reflector headlamp setup as standard, which on many counts looks out of place or downright cheap. And then offer a technologically advanced headlamp (the right fit for the brand) as an optional extra. Now all optional extra items have a high price markup to make money.
A similar case can be seen with alloy wheels as well; smaller-sized (17”, 18” in Europe) standard alloy wheels are mostly dull-looking, but larger-sized optional alloy wheels have attractive designs and, of course, high markup. So all this is by design, not by default, just to make money. A cheap reflector headlamp or other low-cost solution works fine in vehicles sold as fleet cars in Europe, which is a sizable market.
But the Indian product planning department can still choose what they want and configure the car as per the Indian customer’s value perception. As in India, German luxury carmakers sell cars in fixed configurations without any optional features.
Sadly, it seems Mercedes India’s product planning department doesn’t have a fair understanding of what role headlamps play in a real-world scenario, say nighttime highway driving, even if a large majority of luxury cars are chauffeur-driven.
In this case, attention to detail is surely missing, and it seems that Mercedes in India is taking customers for granted because of its long-standing German luxury car brand image.
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