Reference Auto

BMW is not only planning to retain its top slot in the luxury cars market in India (where it overtook German peer and arch rival Mercedes-Benz) but it also said it plans to roll out a whopping 60,000 cars in the country’s market in a decade while unveiling the 6 Series Convertible for a price tag of Rs 95 lakh.

The country’s luxury cars segment is on fire with companies seeing sales double in two to three years and BMW could be the biggest beneficiary of this surge.

BMW is doing all it can to retain the top slot but Mercedes-Benz is also giving it some fierce competition.

The growth story in the luxury segment has also prompted BMW to unwrap its plans to bring in the X3 this year in the form of a completely knocked down unit or CKD. The X3 will be assembled at the Chennai plant.

The company, which is bullish on the Indian luxury segment, plans to pump in an additional Rs 70 crore by 2012.

The 6 Series car has a petrol variant only and comes with an eight-speed sports automatic transmission and a 4.4-litre V8 engine that has TwinPower turbo technology, which can deliver 407 hp. The car can zoom from zero to 100 km per hour in five seconds only and touch a top speed of 250 km per hour.

“The new BMW 6 Series Convertible, which has breathtaking aesthetics, is just perfect for an exclusive lifestyle. The elegant silhouette, torquey engine, perfect road grip and plush interiors, which have seen perfection to the smallest detail, create an ultra-luxurious open-top driving experience that can’t get any better,” BMW India president Andreas Schaaf said while unveiling the car.

The company has realised that rolling out models alone will not help it retain the top slot in the luxury segment this year.

“Besides launching cars in the next couple of years, we will double our dealerships across the country to 40 and infuse more funds at the Chennai plant to meet our future needs,” Schaaf added.

“We have recently bought more land to ramp up the size of our Chennai facility, while our annual production capacity has also been raised to 10,000 units from the current 8,000 units. If required, we can produce more cars,” Schaaf said.

Last year, BMW India sold 6,426 cars, which is a mind blowing 40 per cent share of the luxury car market. Total sales in the segment stood at 15,000 cars.

Though BMW did not want to touch the Rs 1 crore-mark while pricing the 6 Series Convertible, it is felt that the car is priced slightly on the higher side. Also, the company could have rolled out a diesel variant, as diesel cars have found favour in India.

But BMW knows that customers are willing to pay for premium cars if they are feature rich and this pricing is unlikely to be a hindrance factor for buyers to lap up the 6 Series car.

With German peers Mercedes-Benz and Audi also bringing in new modes and more players entering the fray in the segment, BMW could face a bumpy road in its bid to target 60,000 car sales in 10 years even as the 6 Series Convertible could rev up sales and revenues substantially in the short term.