German luxury car maker BMW is confident of strong growth path in India over the next three years backed by new launches, deeper market penetration, brand initiatives along with strong economic growth.

In the first seven months of this calendar year, BMW has sold 5,159 vehicles, a growth of about 11 per cent. “Recent new productions have helped and the economy is also picking up. With GST, we are hoping for more, though the cess part, is a big surprise,” Vikram Pawah, President, BMW India told BusinessLine .

Presently, BMW India’s volumes are driven by three categories, three pillars as the company calls them — BMW 3 series with GT combination, X1 and BMW 5 series.

“In the last 10 years, little less than a third of our volumes in India came from BMW 5 series,” he said.

While the company has introduced new 7 series and 5 series, it is also gearing up to roll out X3 and 6 Series GT in the next 12 months. “They will redefine new segments altogether and 6 GT will be positioned between 5 series and 7 series and we hope it will expand the market,” he stated.

The company says it has a good mix to offer to the customers.

Mobile showroom

On the distribution side, the company is expanding the number of dealer outlets to 50 by next year from 41 now.

Also, the company has another initiative called BMW Mobile Studio, a mobile showroom that showcases BMW products and services. This mobile studio mostly covers emerging markets such as Agra, Varanasi, Salem. “It will cover 50 emerging cities this year,” he said.

In 2016, BMW India sold 7,862 units when compared with over 13,000 units by its rival Mercedes-Benz, which is now the Number 1 luxury brand.

Assembly operations

BMW India is presently assembling eight product ranges at its factory near Chennai. It has discontinued assembly and sale of BMW 1 series from January this year.

However, BMW 6 series GT will be assembled locally after the introduction in the Indian market next year.

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