The luxury hatchback war is all set to re-ignite on the third of September. BMW has announced that it will launch the 1 Series for the Indian market at a function in Mumbai on September 3. The car has already been spotted testing in the middle of last month and a few days later the German auto maker also released the first brochure for the vehicle.
The brochure reveals that the Indian market is expected to get one petrol and diesel engine. While the former is likely to be the 118i variant that is powered by a twin-turbo 1.6-litre petrol mill producing 172PS and 250Nm of torque, the oil burner is expected to be the 118d also a 1.6-litre mill producing 144PS and 320Nm of torque. Power is transmitted to the rear-wheels across both variants via the ZF eight speed transmission.
While the 1 Series is expected to feature all the usual luxuries from BMW, special features are expected to include idrive system, park assist, electric seats, start-stop function and 7.1 surround sound music system.
The German luxury car maker had confirmed at the launch of the BMW X6 in November last year that it would be bringing the 1 Series to the Indian market and that its local assembly would being by the end of this year.
We expect that BMW will price initially the 1 Series in the region of Rs 20-24 lakh but once the local operation begin, we expect the price to drop by at least by Rs two lakh. It competes with the Mercedes-Benz A-Class, the soon to be launched Audi A3 and the Volvo V40 Crosscountry.
