BMW to bring UKL1 underpinned FWD models to India; 2015 Mini first in pipeline

BMW will bring its new ULK1 platform underpinned FWD models to the Indian market and the first car in this range will be the 2015 Mini that was unveiled in London last year.  This was confirmed to CarWale by Philipp von Sahr, president of BMW India during the launch of the M6 Gran Coupe in Delhi on April 4. However, he did not specify when this is expected to happen but we believe that it will be early next year and will be followed within a few months by the Active tourer models.

2014 will see the German automaker launch four models for the Indian market of which the first was the 3 Series GT and this has been followed by the M6 Gran Coupe. The next two cars are expected to be the facelifted X5 SUV and the futuristic i8 plugin hybrid sportscar which may see an end of the year debut. However, von Sahr also said that BMW will introduce more M badged models in India, so there is a possibility that we will soon see the M3 sedan and the M4 coupe being brought to India.

He said that once the i8 is launched in the Indian market, BMW will aim to bring more hybrid models, here, across its entire range as is the practice in most of the other markets where it has a presence. It currently has a sales ratio of 90 per cent diesel cars to 10 per cent petrol models in terms of sales and we expect that once the hybrid models are offered this ratio may change due to efficiency that these models can offer as compared to their diesel counterparts.

In terms of numbers, BMW gets most of its volumes from the 3 Series and 5 Series but is also aiming to seek success with the 1 Series. It says that the 1 Series since its launch is being bought by those who are looking to upgrade from mass market cars to a luxury model.

Philipp von Sahr said that 2013 had been a tough year even for the luxury manufacturers but that it is constantly assessing the situation and that its number one target is to remain profitable and invest for the future. In this regard, it has opened the new training centre in Gurgaon for its employees. The aim is to create BMW certified technicians and personnel who will be able to work in India and in foreign markets. The centre is also certified to train personnel from abroad to work on BMW cars. It has been setup on a 2.2 acre plot with an investment of  Rs 160 million.

Finally, he said that BMW aims for higher levels of localisation in India and may soon start producing most of its models at the Chennai plant in the future.