Chandigarh, Dec 8 : Luxury car maker Mercedes-Benz is expecting higher sales in the Indian market in the second half of the current fiscal as the overall market conditions are fast improving, a senior official said Tuesday.

"The luxury car market was most affected in the first five months, but from July onwards we have again started getting good responses," Debashish Mitra, director (sales and marketing) of Mercedes-Benz India, told reporters here.

"We had sold over 3,625 cars in 2008 and this year up to November we have sold only 2,900 cars," he added.

Mitra added that the company was getting "very encouraging response" from Punjab, which constitutes 8 to 10 percent of the company's total sales.

Delhi is the biggest market for Mercedes-Benz in India.

Mitra also said the company's sports utility vehicle (SUV), "New M-Class" was getting good response in India.

"Last year we had sold around 100 units of SUVs and we have already sold 130 to 140 cars so far this year. Seeing this trend, we have plans to launch more SUVs in near future."

Mercedes opened its second dealership in the region here Saturday. The other one is in Jalandhar in Punjab that was opened in October this year.

"Our sales are backed by the most extensive after-sales service network as compared to any other luxury player in India, a critical enabler towards maintaining strong traction in the market," Mitra added.(IANS)