Growing the premium car market will remain a top priority for German auto major BMW in India, according to a top official.
With the premium car segment accounting for just 1.2% to 1.4% of the total car market, India, according to Vikram Pawah, president BMW India Pvt. Ltd., offers enough headroom for growth.
In a free-wheeling interview here on Thursday, Mr. Pawah said BMW grew 11.7% in the first six months of 2017 despite uncertainties caused by demonetisation and the roll out of Goods and Services Tax (GST).
Asserting that “it is impossible to control uncertainties,’’ Mr. Pawah said BMW would remain focussed on its basic proposition of being the leader and benchmarking whatever it did. Celebrating 10 years of its production in India, BMW had lined up for introduction “some class-defining products’’ to lure more Indians to own and experience world class cars. It set the stage for segment expansion with the new 5 Series vehicles.
‘Good response’
Mr. Pawah claimed the new 5 Series offered ‘never heard of things’ such as gesture control and remote parking in the premium segment. Declining to divulge the numbers, he said response for new cars ‘is fantastic’. For BMW, 5 Series has been a critical component of its India game plan.
Of the 66,000 vehicles sold by BMW thus far since it set up production base 10 summers ago, 5 Series accounted for about 19,000 units. The new 5 Series comes at a time when competition is hotting up in this space from peers.
Mr. Pawah indicated that the new 6 GT would be a part of the 2018 launch list in India and would be slotted in between the 5 and 7 Series. BMW would be creating another value proposition with the introduction of new X3 Series in India next year, he added. The new X 3 Series is developed on new CLAR modular platform, which is claimed to be very light.
To a question, he said expanding the dealer network from 41 to 50 and driving BMW mobile studios around 50 ‘emerging cities’ were part its larger exercise to develop the premium car segment in the country. “The next wave of customers will come from these emerging cities,’’ he added.
To a query on BMW Motorrad, he said it had been selling 11 products, imported in completely-built units. “We are setting up the foundation for the business in India,’’ he added. On its collaboration with TVS Motors, he said the jointly developed products were currently exported. The domestic sale of the would happen next year, he added.
