BMW India has started its marketing for the upcoming car, the 1 Series hatchback in the print media and in cyber space. The company has a new marketing campaign in place where individuals need to answer few questions and 10 lucky winners will get a chance to go on an all-expense paid trip to Germany. Once there, they will get a chance to drive the 1 Series with Sachin Tendulkar and a FIA GT 1 World Championship race driver, Armaan Ebrahim.
The BMW 1 Series will be the most affordable car from the German automaker in India and will compete with the recently launched Mercedes-Benz A-Class which has managed to get 400 bookings within just 10 days of the launch. It is likely that this development may have spurned BMW to pre-pone the launch date from the previously believed date in September.
The car will be imported to India via completely-knocked-down (CKD) route and then assembled at their Chennai facility. India is expected to get the five door model and options of three diesel and two petrol engines. There is also a possibility that at least one M badged vehicle from this range will come along a few months after the 1 Series is launched.
The entry level premium car market is heating up with offerings from German manufactures. Mercedes-Benz recently launched the A-Class hatchback for Rs 21.93 lakh (ex-showroom Mumbai) and it has already garnered over 400 bookings this month. Audi is expected to follow suit with the A3 sedan and eventually the hatchback.
