BMW, a German auto major company possibly looks forward to launch a Mini Hatchback in India by December 2009. A company official said “Luxury car maker BMW is sceptical of the viability of launching another brand ‘Mini’ in the country”. 

Peter Kronschnabl, BMW India president told the reporters after the launch of BMW X6 in Kolkata, “The Mini would be imported and would carry a price tag of around Rs 20 lakh for the base model. We had shelved plans of launching the mini hatchback last year when the market started turning bad since we saw that the risks involved in launching it were more than the rewards we would be able to reap afterwards. 

Towards the end of this year, we will once again weigh the pros and cons of launching the hatchback model in India”. 

He added that the Rs 20-lakh price tag would be Rs 9-10 lakh higher than the highest priced car in the segment. We need to assess if there is a market for such cars. We also need to convince our dealers that additional investment they make would fetch returns if we have to launch the car in India. 

A senior BMW official said that, “nevertheless, the possibility of the vehicle being a success last year was bad, and the car market hasn’t improved much during this time. Although we will look at the possibility of launching the car during December 2009, the possibility of a market survey yielding positive results does not seem a bright possibility”. 

Of total car sales in India of 7,400, approximately quarter of the cars were sold by the company 1747 cars during the first half of the year. Mr Kronschnabl said, “BMW vehicle sales improved by about at 12% over the previous corresponding period which is 1.5% above the growth in the entire segment”. 

The target for this year is 3,000 units of which 100 will be in Kolkata. Last year company sold 75 cars in Calcutta. Recently, BMW has raised the annual capacity of its Indian plant to 3,000 units from 1,700 on a single-shift basis at a cost of $750,000.

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)

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High-end car prices to fall soon
The MINI One D: Market launch scheduled for September 2009
BMW 7 Series 2010 Model: New Drivetrain and Equipment Variants

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Posted by Naresh Koshti on 10 July, 2009 2:59:55 PM IST #