BMW eyes northern market

BMW India, a subsidiary of the BMW group, has high hopes from the northern region market and it hopes to sell 150 cars this year alone in Punjab.

The company is also planning to roll out another dealership in Ludhiana. At present, it has one dealership in Chandigarh. The company would launch the five series and X5 for sale in India in the second half of 2007.

BMW India started operations in January and in March BMW India opened its production plant in Chennai. With the Chennai assembly plant, the BMW group will have a total of 23 production locations across 13 countries worldwide, while the subsidiary will take the number of international subsidiaries to 35.

The plant will produce BMW 3 series and BMW 5 series saloons in petrol and diesel variants. The plant has a capacity to produce 1,700 units per year on a one shift basis.

Speaking to Business Standard, BMW India President Peter Kronschnabel said, "Punjab has high potential because of high disposable income and high living standards. Chandigarh has per capita income of about $1, 200. Seeing the statistics, we are hopeful to sell 150 vehicles in Punjab. He added, "Last year, we didn't have any production facility, but we sold 257 cars across the country. With new manufacturing facility in Chennai (Tamil Nadu) in which the company has invested close $ 27 million, we are hopeful to sell 1,200 cars this year."

When asked whether the current Chennai plant would cater to the exports, he said, "We have not decided but again it can't be ruled out that in future it will cater to the export market."

He said, "India is emerging market, the total number of cars sold last year was 1.2 million, of which 5,000 were in the premium segment."