At the launch of a dealership in Pune (Maharashtra), BMW India announced its plan to enter the used car business by September 2011.
Andreas Schaaf, President of BMW India, at the launch on June 15th, 2011, stated, “We are almost ready to launch the used car business (pre-owned cars) for BMW fleet of cars in India.” He further added the company has been working on setting the “parameters of certification” and “age of the cars,” along with deciding on their pricing. According to trade insiders, the pre-owned luxury car market in India is around 10-15 percent of the total number of luxury car sales.
Schaaf stated that BMW is backing on the rich small towns in India for sales of its second hand cars apart from sales in the big cities. The company also has plans to expand its dealership network in smaller towns in India, taking the total number of its dealerships to 60 by 2015. The company intends to expand its dealerships to 40 from the present 24 by 2012-end and hopes to see the number triple to 60 by 2015 end.