BMW - the renowned German luxury carmaker is stepping up its network expansion in India, especially in Tier II cities like Coimbatore, Jaipur and Lucknow, in its bid to claim the top spot in the luxury car market by 2010.

BMW currently has 12 dealers in 10 cities and will be adding 10 more dealers in 10, Tier II cities by the end of 2010. BMW India President; Peter Kronschnabl said “In the first quarter of the year we have delivered 992 cars, which makes us the number one player in the luxury segment. We don't know if we will remain the number one by the end of the year but the intention is to be there. We are on track to stay number one by the end of the year.”

BMW competes with compatriots Mercedes Benz and Audi in the luxury segment. As per the data of the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) during the last fiscal BMW had sold 2,742 units, while Mercedes Benz sold 3,172 units.

Kronschnabl declined to forecast the company's sales target for the year stating a clear picture would emerge only after the second quarter. BMW has already launched four new models this year and another three would follow, which include petrol and diesel variants of its top end sedan 7-series.

Talking about the dealership expansion, he said the company expects each dealer from Tier II cities to contribute about 30-40 cars per year. BMW today opened its dealership at Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu. "This will be the model dealership for all the Tier II cities," Kronschnabl said.

He said while the standards of BMW dealerships are the same in both Tier I and II cities, those in the smaller cities will have only about 1-2 cars on display. He said that the global slowdown has not made the firm alter its expansions plans in India.

He added "Instead, we are going ahead. We are working at the same pace as before despite the slowdown. While we won't expand production capacity as we have enough, our focus is to expand our sales and service network."

Kronschnabl said financing remains a challenge and sales could have been better had it not been for the difficulty in credit purchase of cars. "We have also tied up with HDFC Bank as a financing partner from this year," he said.

He added BMW'sglobal component sourcing from India is going as planned. "We have identified a couple of partners and the next stage is to go for sampling and in the next two years we expect the volumes to pick up."

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Best Selling BMW Car Model Range:
BMW 3-Series 320i (Petrol)
BMW 3-Series 320d (Diesel)
BMW 5-Series 523i (Petrol)
BMW 5-Series 525d (Diesel)
BMW 7-Series 730Ld (Diesel)
BMW 7-Series 740Li (Petrol)
BMW X - 5 3.0d (Diesel)
BMW 6-Series V8 (Petrol)

Related Books:
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Posted by Amrith K.A on 1 May, 2009 5:50:54 PM IST #