BMW in India Archives - Indiandrives.com

May 29, 2013

BMW unveils Gran Lusso Coupe

As per latest reports, BMW has unveiled its much awaited Gran Lusso Coupe. The report added that this glossy new BMW Pininfarina Gran Lusso vehicle idea could offer a stylistic insight for the comeback of the BMW 8-series.

Uncovered at the renowned Ville d’Este concours in Italy during the last week, the Pininfarina Gran Lusso Coupé is a modern 4 seater made by teamwork between the company’s internal design group and well-known Italian design house Pininfarina.

Based on the modified version of rear-wheel-drive underpins, the BMW 7th series is powered by 537 bhp turbo on 6.0 liter V12 petrol engine used in the BMW 760i. This is the first collaborated production.

In the recent years, BMW’s collaboration with Zagato created many concepts including the BMW 24-based Zagato coupe of last year.

However, the Pininfarina Gran Lusso Coupe with its unique body points to the BMW designs improvement.

The Gran Lusso retains many of the BMW features like the heavily raked screens, shallow glass house, long bonnet and a cabin positioned way back in the comparatively long wheelbase and short boot lid.

Though described as a one-off kind, BMW still affirms it will go in to production only after changes cause the aggressive shark-nose look.

BMW already has shown on previous models even though for Pininfarina its new.

The interior sleekness is retained as per BMW requirements with mated BMW rational features including the center console angel for the driver. Four adults can easily be seated on the individual seats.

The black and tobacco leather upholstery is from the Italian company Foglizzo. The trims are worked from a single piece of rare kauri wood that is native to New Zealand and black chrome on the dashboard.

“We wish to forward the message the upcoming time is not all about electric vehicles, however also conventional models with genuine arousing appeal,” said the well known company in a declaration that emphasized its promise to top performance and/or smart vehicles.

“Whether that consists of an 8-Series is not decided up till now. However, the Pininfarina Gran Lusso car provides a signal of how such a vehicle might appear.”

May 10, 2013

CBEC officials raids BMW India’s Chennai facility

German luxury car manufacturer BMW India may be forwarded a notice in order to pay a penalty of around Rs 650 crore by the Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) for escaping customs duty of around Rs 500 crore.

Recently, the German car manufacturer’s facility in the city of Chennai was probed by the tax functionaries in this regard.

The tax group thinks that the auto giant imported vehicles via semi-knocked down (SKD) way and paid full fledge tarrifs for completely-knocked down (CKD) vehicles.

The custom duty for SKD path remains at 30% whilst for CKD way, it stays at 10%.

“An examination is going on by the authorities at the company’s Chennai-based facility. We are giving full assistance to the authorities in the inspection procedure,” stated the company’s spokesperson.

“It is not only BMW even other luxury vehicle manufacturers in the nation are following the similar technique and have avoided tariffs around Rs 2,000 crore. These automobile makers are provided tax rebate in order to hearten local fabrication divisions. But, they have not gone in for indigenization of constituents as the sales quantity doesn’t validate it,” added a tax representative.

September 18, 2012

BMW X1 petrol variant now available at Rs.19.90 Lacs

The luxury automaker BMW is getting some good sales volume from its bestselling model X1 crossover, but only from its diesel variant. It is evident that diesel run vehicles rules the luxury car segment and petrol models have always been on the lesser side of the demand cycle. Now, to claim the petrol market in the luxury segment, BMW is now offering entry level petrol variant of the X1 at an incredible price of Rs.19.90 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi).

This incredible offer is extended by the Bird Automotive – NCR based BMW India dealer. This deal can be availed on or before 24th September 2012 and it is the first time that any BMW model is present in the sub 20 lakh category. BMW India is likely to offer a new facelift model for the X1 and this offer is mainly seen as a way to clear the stocks.

The entry level 18i sDrive petrol variant is specially designed for the Indian road conditions. It features a 2-liter four-cylinder petrol unit that is capable of fetching about 150 bhp of power and impressive torque of about 200Nm. The engine is mated with a six-speed automatic transmission which pushes the vehicles to 100kmph in just 10.5 seconds reaching a top speed of about 200kmph. Quite efficient petrol engine of the X1 offers fuel economy of about 11.25kmpl.

Soon to appear new facelift model is expected to incorporate some refreshing input such as brushed up interiors, start-stop button, 8-speed automatic unit and few more specs that will be revealed shortly. BMW India is gearing up to fetch its number one crown in the Indian luxury segment from its competitor Audi which is pacing ahead of its competitors quite rapidly.

September 5, 2012

BMW 3 Series GT Spy Pics Surfaces on the Net

Luxury car maker BMW’s newest addition to the 3-series, viz. the BMW 3 Series Gran Turismo (GT), has recently been captured in a spy camera while the upcoming vehicle was on a trial.

The spy pictures of the prototype offer a much more lucid view of what the BMW 3 Series Gran Turismo will look like.

The prototype of the BMW features a longer wheelbase than the sedan and a five-door lift-back body. It looks pretty attractive, but the sporty character of the upcoming vehicle fails to match up to its main rival – the Audi A5 Sport back.

The pictures of the prototype also show that the new BMW 3 Series GT will shed the twin-door hatch design of the 5-Series GT and will adopt standard one piece hatch. The change will make the new vehicle nearly 15 inches longer than the company’s standard 3-Series cars. The change will also enhance the interior headroom for the passengers, thanks to the shooting brake layout. After the decade of 1990, this is going to the first new body style to be added to the 3-series range of the company. The company’s “Compact” from the decade of 1990s was a 3-door hatchback.

The new BMW 3 Series GT is expected to have the similar 1.6-litre and 2.0-litre petrol four-cylinder, turbocharged powertrains as present in existing 3 series vehicles. There will also be 3.0-litre turbocharged 6-cylinder and varied inline 4 and straight 6 diesel engines and present in the sedan.

The manufacturer is also expected to introduce certain versions of the upcoming GT in all-wheel drive formats.

In short, the new BMW 3 Series GT is pleasing to the eye than the company’s 5-series GT.

The new BMW 3 Series GT is widely expected to be officially introduced to the world at the 2012 Paris Motor Show and go up on sale next year.

Image Courtesy- autoblog.com

February 26, 2011

BMW’s new sub brand i

The first foreign brand in India to diversify into the branding strategy is BMW. Yes, the Bavarian, who has been thinking about going this way for a long time through their advertisements in paper and electronic media have finally declared their intent. The sub brand would be called as i. This brand would be good for all the electric cars that the German company would market in India.

The electric car portfolio in India currently is non existent for BMW and they want to bring in their new age electric cars like the plug-in models, advanced standalone hybrid and range-extenders. These electric cars and especially the new i8 and i3 would be launched in India by the year 2013. Head of BMW’s R&D operations, Klaus Draeger said that these cars have special architecture which negates the extra weight of the batteries and gives this cars the performance as well as range edge over the others. He further explained that there is an aluminium chassis as also carbonfibre-reinforced plastic which contribute to the lower weight.

BMW also have the MegaCity Vehicle which is said to be a hard core urban mule. BMW’s EfficientDynamics would be the key factor driving this cars and it would be interesting to see as to how the company would price these cars here in India.

January 7, 2011

BMW on top of the charts

BMW India, from the time they have dug their trenches in India, have always been on top of the luxury bandwagon. In the last year, BMW India sold about 7,232 vehicles in the Indian sector. This was confirmed by the Society of India Automobile Manufacturers. Its closest competition and one which has been the segment leader for a long time, Mercedes Benz has managed to sell only 5,208 vehicles in the entire year.

Meanwhile, Audi India Limited, the other German completing the triplet, was able to sell only 2,889 vehicles in the entire 2010 calendar year. To meet the increased production demands and to maintain its numero uno position, BMW India have recently increased their production capacity at their Chennai facility to about 5,600 vehicles per annum from the 3,000 vehicles it used to produce earlier. To strengthen their model lineup and to also widen the mass appeal, the company also recently launched its cheapest model in India, the BMW X1. They have also launched the cheapest of the 5 series namely the BMW 520d at a price tag of only Rs 36 lakhs ex-showroom, Delhi.

In the same vein, the company also have opened a new show room in Orissa. The show room is named OSL Prestige and is located in Bhubaneshwar. It’s service facility is facilitated at Bhanpur in Cuttack. This service center can cater to about 10 cars per day. BMW India’s second expansion plan does include launching of new show rooms and service centers throughout India and also in feasible far flung areas. BMW owned Rolls Royce Motors show room in Delhi has been relocated to Mohan Cooperative in January 2011. The reason cited was space crunch. Moreover, there would be launch of the fabled Mini brand in India and it would be as we all know slotted beneath the BMW X1.