German luxury carmaker BMW said on Tuesday it is revising sales target for the country upwards and will launch its sports coupe car M Series by next year.
The company announced the market launch of its premium luxury sedan 5 Series with prices starting at Rs 37 lakh (Rs 3.7 million) and going up to Rs 45 lakh (Rs 4.5 million, ex-showroom).
"Till June-end we have sold a combined of 424 units of our 3 and 7 series sedans. Considering the good response, we are revising our target of 1,000 units set earlier for this year to 1,200 units," BMW India President Peter Krnoschnabl told PTI.
The company's sales for July is expected to cross the 100 units mark. "Already we have got good orders for the 5 Series and with the SUV X5 expected to be launched by the year-end, we expect to keep up good growth in India," Krnoschnabl added.
BMW also plans to bring its sports coupe M series cars M3 and M5 by next year, he said, adding it would be imported based on customer orders. Krnoschnabl said the company expected the 3 Series (price between Rs 26.7 lakh or Rs 2.67 million and Rs 32.2 lakh or Rs 3.22 million) to be the primary growth driver.
The super luxury sedan 7 Series, which is priced at Rs 74 lakh (Rs 7.4 million) upto Rs 1.25 crore (Rs 12.5 million), is expected to sell about 170 units this year, he said.
"By the end of the year we will have five products in our portfolio -- 3, 5 and 7 series along with X3 and X5 SUVs," he said. To meet the targets, the company is also on a dealership expansion drive.
The company already has eight dealers and by the end of the 2009, it expects to raise that number to 12. (PTI)
BMW India president Peter Kronschnabl stands next to a BMW 650i car. BMW has set up a plant in Chennai and started manufacturing 3 series and 5 series cars.
Photograph: Dibyangshu Sarkar/AFP/Getty Images
