Munich-based luxury car maker BMW Group will have 25 new offerings in India in the current calendar year, as it aims to outpace the market.
Having hit a record in the half-yearly sales in January to June of 2024, the maker of Mini and Motorrad expects to grow faster in the second half in India, led by thes series of new launches which include 14 new Beamers, two Minis, and eight Motorrad two-wheelers. Six are all-new products, three facelifts, and over a dozen new variant launches.
Launching four of them in the National Capital on Wednesday, Vikram Pawah, President and CEO of BMW Group India said, “We are on a product offensive. We will continue to outpace the market and help in further developing the premium luxury car market. All these new products that we have launched will help us achieve exactly what we have set out to do.”
The company launched the country’s first luxury electric bike, BMW Motorrad CE04, priced around Rs 15 lakh, a BMW 5 series with a long wheelbase, and the all-new Mini Cooper S and Mini Countryman Electric.
BMW Group India reported its highest-ever half-yearly sales of 7,098 cars and 3,614 two-wheelers between January and June 2024. In the same time frame, cumulative sales globally increased 2% to 1.09 million units.
“For us, it is all about growing, we grew our volumes by 21% across both brands in the car business, and we are consistently outpacing the market, that is the aim. With the introduction of all these new products, the second half should be even better,” reiterated Pawah.
This optimistic guidance from BMW Group India comes at a time when the overall luxury car market has also started witnessing a slowdown in growth momentum. The market continues to grow in double digit – however the rate of growth has started coming down.
Today, the company produces nine models from its portfolio at its plant on the outskirts of Chennai. Pawah says BMW makes in India for India, and 90% of sales come from locally manufactured models with 50% local content.
The company has a manufacturing plant in Chennai, a parts warehouse in Pune, a training center in Gurgaon, and a Financial Services Arm and BMW Foundation in the country.
Since its entry in 2007, the company has sold over 1.4 lakh premium cars and over 32000 luxury two-wheelers. The Indian luxury car market is expected to hit a new peak in 2024 and is pitted to cross 50000 units in annual sales mark for the first time ever.