BMW India, the Indian arm of the German luxury automobile manufacturer BMW is planning to focus on local assembly in India with the aim of pricing its car products competitively for the luxury car market. While BMW posted the highest sales in the premium car segment in India for 2012, the carmaker risks losing out to competitors’ fierce price cutting strategy.
According to Mr. Philipp von Sahr President BMW India, the automaker will not sell discounted cars to attain volumes in the Indian car market. He added that the German luxury auto manufacturer is increasing focus on local assembly of car models being sold in India and CKD (completely knocked down) production is being extended to more car models.
As part of the increased focus on local assembly, the 7-series diesel variant by BMW will now be produced locally at the automaker’s plant in Chennai. The plant with an annual capacity of 11,000 units annually already assembles the 3-series, the 5-series, the X1, the X3 and the MINI Countryman car models.
Mr. Sahr also stated that the BMW 1-series will be launched later in 2013 and will be priced competitively through CKD production.