These Mercedes Benz Cars Were Actually Built By Tata Motors: We Explain [Video]

Mercedes-Benz is currently India’s largest luxury car manufacturer. They have a variety of models in their lineup, and in fact, they have more models than India’s largest car seller and manufacturer, Maruti Suzuki. It was not an easy job for Mercedes in India, as they had to devise strategies and come up with models that would appeal to the Indian audience. Did you know that during the initial days, Mercedes-Benz cars were actually built by Tata Motors? Well, here we have a video that shows one of the first Mercedes models that was built by Tata Motors here in India.

The video has been shared by WildfilmsIndia on their YouTube channel. In this video, we see two W124 E-Class sedans being driven on the Rajpath, or Kartavya Path as we know it now. The video was posted six years ago, but our assumption is that it was originally recorded at the time of the launch.

The car was originally launched in the Indian market back in 1995. Mercedes-Benz had entered India that year through a 50:50 joint venture with Tata Motors (then known as TELCO). The W124 was not only the first Mercedes to be officially sold in India, but it was also the first CKD (Completely Knocked Down) model.

As part of the joint venture, all Mercedes-Benz cars that were sold in India were actually assembled at Tata’s facility in Pune. As we all know, in the CKD process, cars are brought to India in parts and are assembled locally at a manufacturing facility.

This way, the brand could manage the price of the product. For Mercedes-Benz, it was a crucial step as it was entering a new market and had to be clever with its strategy for long-term success.

Actually, this was not the first time that Mercedes-Benz had associated with TELCO in India. Their initial partnership lasted from 1954 to 1969. However, this was exclusively for building trucks and commercial vehicles. The second joint venture between the two brands began in 1994 and lasted until 2000–2001.

This was one of the reasons why Tata cars sold in the Indian market during that time had good paint quality. Most of these cars were painted at the same facility as the Mercedes-Benz cars. The same facility exists even today, and Tata still uses it to paint their modern-day cars. The facility in Pune, where the Mercedes cars were initially assembled, has now been converted into an assembly facility for Land Rovers and Jaguars.

Coming to the W124, the car was launched in the Indian market at an ex-showroom price of ₹20 lakh. The W124 is still a popular car among collectors, and we have featured several well-maintained examples on our website.

The Mercedes-Benz W124 was an executive car made by Daimler-Benz from 1984 to 1997. The car came to India in 1995 and was available with a 2.2-litre petrol engine that generated 140 bhp and 200 Nm of torque. The diesel version of the W124 was known as the E250d and was powered by a 2.5-litre, 5-cylinder engine that generated 113 bhp and 170 Nm of peak torque.