Seeking to boost sales in Indian luxury car market, Mercedes-Benz on Tuesday introduced its B-Class compact vehicle, which is available in two versions: B 180 and the B 180 Sport.

The new B-Class luxury car starts at Rs. 21.49 lakhs (ex-showroom price, Mumbai) and escalates to Rs. 24.87 lakh for the top-model Sport variant.

The inexpensive luxury car is expected to help Mercedes-Benz in boosting its sales in the country. The Indian division of Mercedes-Benz has lost a considerable share to rival auto manufacturers BMW and Audi, which are already selling cheaper versions of their luxury cars.

Mercedes-Benz's B-Class car will compete against the likes of BMW's cheapest X1 model SUV and Audi's Q3 compact SUV, which cost Rs. 23.85 lakh and Rs. 26.21 lakh respectively.

The Mercedes-Benz B-Class will also challenge Ford Motor Co.'s C-Max and Volkswagen AG's Touran.

To begin with, the company will sell only petrol version of the car. Diesel version of the car will be made available later on.

Mercedes-Benz India sales & marketing director Debashis Mitra, "We will only be able to get the petrol variants initially as globally there is a shortfall of at least 25,000-30,000 units of B-class. The diesel variant will only come in the next 18 months."

The Mercedes-Benz B-Class promises to deliver a fuel efficiency of 14.81 km per litre. Globally, the inexpensive luxury car has already sold more than 75,000 units since its launch earlier this year.