Seems that Mercedes Benz has decided to open retail network in towns smaller than metro cities in India because BMW sold more cars last year than them. Mercedes cars cost Rs. 20 million which is $ 400,000 about three fourths of which will be tax. Only the very wealthy will buy these cars and these people are anything but stupid. Still I wonder why they are willing to pay so much money to the government in the form of tax when they will get only grief in return. Road surfaces get washed out after just one heavy rain and cars scrape their undersides as they fall into huge potholes. Villagers build high speed bumps on so called highways because speeding cars disturb their children defaecating by the roadside. If somebody hits your car you can do nothing to him. Their are no traffic police or highway patrol. Most police are busy guarding criminal politicians and useless, parasitic kleptocrats. The rest just hang around at police stations and will promptly arrest the owner of Mercedes on trumped up charges because he can afford much more in bribes than the other fellow. Insurance is mandatory which allows insurance companies to gouge customers. You may have been paying insurance for years but will lose your entire no claim bonus if you make even a small claim. So the insurance company may actually take twice the amount it spends which is criminal but there is no recourse. A complaint to the Ombudsman will go unanswered because he is a sarkari fellow and does nothing for his exorbitant salary. My advice - buy a car made in India and pay as little tax to the criminals as possible.