- Mumbai’s largest Mercedes-Benz sales and service facility
- The biggest highlight is the XENTRY Vehicle Scanner
Mercedes-Benz is trying to change something that has remained largely unchanged for decades: the way a car is inspected when it arrives at a service centre. The company has introduced its XENTRY Vehicle Scanner at the new Landmark Cars facility in Jogeshwari West, Mumbai, making it the first AI-powered automated vehicle scanner deployed by a carmaker in India.
And while an AI scanner might sound like another flashy piece of technology added to a premium workshop, there is a fairly practical reason for its existence. A service advisor traditionally has to walk around a car, identify visible damage, check the tyres and manually record the vehicle’s condition. That process can be subjective, time-consuming and, depending on how busy the workshop is, inconsistent.
The XENTRY system essentially turns this inspection into a repeatable digital process.
How does the XENTRY Vehicle Scanner work?
The system is designed as a drive-through scanner. The customer simply drives the car through the scanner bay, where a combination of 13 cameras and one LiDAR sensor captures the vehicle from multiple angles.
Mercedes-Benz says the system can capture around 150 images in four to five seconds. These images are then processed using AI to create a detailed digital assessment of the vehicle.
The technology looks at areas including the exterior bodywork, windshield, tyres and underbody. It can identify scratches, dents and other exterior damage, while also assessing tyre condition and tread depth.
The system can also identify underbody damage and distinguish between different types of fluid leaks, including helping differentiate an oil leak from water. This is particularly interesting because these are areas that are either difficult or time-consuming to assess during a conventional walk-around inspection.
The automated process also means that the same method is used every time a vehicle enters the workshop. Mercedes-Benz says the images are anonymised before AI processes them, with the findings then added to the workshop order and reception report.
The complete detailed report takes approximately eight minutes to upload, after which the service advisor can access the vehicle’s condition digitally.
Why is this important?
The biggest advantage here isn't necessarily that AI can spot a scratch. A trained service advisor can do that too.
The bigger advantage is consistency. Imagine arriving at a workshop with a car that already has a few scratches. Instead of relying on a manual inspection and photographs taken by a technician, the system creates a digital record of the vehicle before work begins. The customer can then see exactly what has been detected and decide which repairs are required.
Mercedes-Benz says the system provides a complete 360-degree digital record of the vehicle and allows customers to view the condition of their car in real time.
This could also reduce one of the most common areas of friction during servicing: 'Was that damage already there?'
With a digital record created when the car enters the workshop, there is considerably less room for ambiguity.
It can also identify issues that might otherwise be missed during a quick manual inspection. Mercedes-Benz specifically says AI-supported detection can highlight relevant service and repair requirements that may go unnoticed during a manual inspection.
And yes, it could make servicing faster
There is another advantage that customers will probably appreciate more than the AI branding itself: time.
The scanner automates the initial inspection and eliminates much of the paperwork associated with service reception. The service advisor receives the vehicle information on a tablet, allowing them to spend more time discussing the car with the customer rather than manually documenting its condition.
In an ideal scenario, your car drives through the scanner, the system identifies its condition, the report is generated and the service advisor can immediately explain what actually needs attention.
That is a much more efficient proposition than having someone walk around the car with a clipboard.
The Jogeshwari facility
The scanner is part of Mercedes-Benz and Landmark Cars’ new 2S facility in Jogeshwari West, which combines sales and service under one roof.
It is being positioned as the largest Mercedes-Benz facility in Mumbai, with a workshop capacity of around 150 cars per day and a 33-bay workshop.
The facility is operated in partnership with Landmark Cars Limited, which currently has a network of Mercedes-Benz outlets across six states, with 26 outlets.
The facility itself spans approximately 58,000 sq. ft. and includes 16 Preventive Maintenance and General Repair bays, nine Body & Paint bays and nine supporting bays. There is also a dedicated 6,000 sq. ft. spare-parts area and around 95 trained professionals.
For Mercedes-Benz, this isn't just about opening another workshop. The company says the facility and the Vehicle Scanner form part of its broader 'Go to Customer' strategy, aimed at improving convenience, time efficiency and transparency across the ownership experience.
The 'Retail of the Future' approach
Interestingly, the scanner also fits into Mercedes-Benz India's larger move towards a more technology-led ownership experience.
The brand has already been pushing its 'Retail of the Future' direct-to-customer sales model in India. Now, a similar philosophy is being applied to after-sales: reduce unnecessary friction, digitise processes and give customers greater visibility into what is happening with their cars.
And this is where I think the XENTRY scanner gets genuinely interesting.
AI detecting a scratch isn't revolutionary. AI creating a standardised digital record of your car every time it enters a workshop is. The technology could eventually become particularly useful for warranty claims, insurance-related documentation, resale and simply maintaining a history of a vehicle's condition.
For a luxury car owner, the real benefit isn't necessarily that a machine can see more than a human. It is that both the customer and the workshop can see the same thing. That could make the service experience faster, more transparent and, importantly, far less subjective.
Mercedes-Benz has already deployed the Vehicle Scanner in international markets including Germany, Italy, Korea, the Netherlands, Switzerland and Turkey. India is now joining that list, with Jogeshwari becoming the starting point for the technology here.
And if this works as promised, I wouldn't be surprised if automated vehicle inspection eventually becomes a much more common sight across premium workshops in India.
