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Stung by slowing sales in 2013 that relegated it to the third spot in the Indian luxury car market from a pole position a year earlier, German auto maker BMW India plans to aggressively push sales by introducing new products and expanding its dealer network.
“BMW will expand the product range to cover all opportunities in the luxury car segment,” Philipp von Sahr, President, BMW Group India, said. The company will expand dealer network to 50 in a year’s time (from 40 now), with a plan to aggressively push sales in both Tier-I and Tier-2 cities, he added.
Von Sahr was speaking at the launch of the diesel variant of the new, third generation X5 in India. The SUV, that was introduced globally two months ago, will now become the eighth model to be assembled in BMW’s Chennai plant, a move that will reduce the cost to the customer by several lakhs.
Priced at ₹70.9 lakh (ex-showroom), the SUV that was unveiled in Pune by cricket maestro Sachin Tendulkar will compete with the likes of the ML from Mercedes Benz and Audi’s Q5 and join the current X1, X3 and X6 range of SUVs.
With the 3-series GT and the M6 launched earlier this year, the new X5 will be followed by the M3 sedan, M4 coupe and the M5 (BMW’s motor sport range), the 5-door Mini Cooper, and two hybrids — the BMW ActiveHybrid 7, a gas-electric luxury version of the 7-series sedan as well as the BMW i8 that was unveiled at the Delhi Auto Expo in February, by the year end.
The car-maker, whose sales are said to be suffering on account of product fatigue, is banking on these new products to give sales the much-needed momentum. Last year, BMW sold 7,327 units, registering a 22 per cent decline in sales when competitors Mercedes and Audi sold 9003 (32 per cent) and 10,002 (up 11 per cent) units respectively.
The new X5 has a six-cylinder, 3-litre engine that combines CommonRail direct injection and a turbo charger with variable turbine geometry and delivers a power output of 258 HP and a torque of 560 Nm. It has a top speed of 230 km/hr.
The other features include an eight-speed transmission, adaptive suspension and intelligent all-wheel drive.
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