German premium car maker, Mercedes Benz, which recently won back its pole position from BMW in the India luxury car market, is expected to expand customer base in the country with pre-owned cars.

Mercedes Benz India Limited has already launched its pre-owned car business in New Delhi, Mumbai, Ahmedabad and Chennai under the name 'Proven Exclusivity'. The company is now planning to expand this business and expects the segment to account fro nearly 15-20 per cent turnover in the passenger car business in the country in the next three years.

Debashis Mitra, director (sales & marketing) and member of the board of management, Mercedes Benz India expressed that the response to the used car operations is ‘overwhelming’ and the company sold more than 200 cars in less than two months. The company will extend the used cars business to other cities including Chandigarh, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Bangalore and Pune by September 30.

Mercedes Benz is projected to record a turnover of Rs 2000 crore in passenger car segment in India in 2010, up from Rs 1400 crore in 2009. It already sold 3000 cars as of July end.

The overall Indian luxury car market is expected to increase to 13000 units by the end of this year and Mercedes Benz enjoys a market share of 43 per cent ahead of BMW with 36 per cent market share.

In the first seven months, Mercedes Benz has recorded a massive 79% rise in sales. The company has launched more than a dozen models this year including variants of its C, E and S-Class models.

“The Indian economy is growing rapidly and so are the aspirations… people want to invest in luxury and cars,” said Wilfried Aulbur, MD, Mercedes Benz India.