German automobile giant BMW, on Friday, launched its all-new 3 Series in India. The company is jostling for space in the Indian luxury car market with strong competition coming from the other German auto majors Mercedes and Audi.
The new BMW 3 Series CKD (completely knocked down) kits are assembled at BMW’s plant at Mahindra World City near Chennai, and deliveries will start across India immediately.
Addressing a press conference, Andreas Schaaf, President, BMW Group India, said the vehicle was available in two design schemes — Sport Line and Luxury Line.
The all-India ex-showroom prices for the diesel variants are: Rs.28.9 lakh for BMW 320d, Rs.31.5 lakh for the BMW 320d Sport Line, Rs.31.5 lakh for BMW 320d Luxury Line and Rs.36.9 lakh for the Luxury Plus. The only petrol variant is the BMW 328i Sport Line priced at Rs.37.9 lakh.
The cars come in Alpine White and Melbourne Red as non-metallic colours, and Black Sapphire, Glacier Silver, Havanna, Imperial Blue Brilliant Effect and Mineral Grey in a metallic finish.
“We sold 4,457 cars this year till June and hope to emerge as the leading luxury car player in India again this year. In India, we sold 8,656 units of the BMW 3 series since 2007 and this year, we will have plenty of new launches. We are looking at a new 6 series coupe, a 7 series refresh and new look X1 and X6,’’said Mr. Schaaf.
BMW at present has 25 sales outlets and it will be increased to 40 by end-2012. Mr. Schaaf said all models of the new BMW 3 series would feature the new Eco Pro mode as standard which enables efficient driving and reduced fuel consumption. “The diesel variants’ fuel efficiency is 18.88 km per litre, 20 per cent better than competitors.’’
The BMW Group has invested Rs.180 crore in India, including a production plant near Chennai with a capacity of 11,000 units per annum. It sells the BMW, Mini and Rolls-Royce in India. The plant makes the BMW 3 series, the BMW 5 Series and BMW X1 in petrol and diesel and the X3 diesel.
