The Hindu Business Line : Three cheers from Deutschland

German automakers have been slow to enter the Indian market. But in the last three years, Audi, BMW and Volkswagen have come in quick succession, albeit with a relatively small portfolio of their cars. Profiled this week are three cars, all quintessentially German. Highly focussed and precision-engineered, these cars are or will be assembled in India.

The Koreans came in quickly after the deregulation, and the Americans and the Japanese followed suit. But, apart from the lone presence of Mercedes Benz, the Germans didn’t quite look at the Indian automobile market for a long while.

And then, in the last three years they have all landed here in full strength. Audi, BMW and now Volkswagen have come in quick succession, albeit with a relatively small portfolio of their cars. Just as was the case with the passenger car industry in general, which grew multi-fold after deregulation in the late 1990s, the luxury and super premium segments will witness a boom in sales, simply due to the fantastic choice now available to customers in these segments.

We profile three cars this week, all quintessentially German, and which have all either been launched, unveiled or waiting in the wings. All of them are highly focussed, precision-engineered cars and all three are or will be assembled in India.

BMW 5-Series

After successfully setting up its manufacturing facility near Chennai and after expanding its dealership network, BMW India had kept its promise and launched the 5-Series sedan late last month. The new 5-Series is being assembled at the company’s Chennai plant and is being positioned to take on the likes of the Mercedes Benz E-class.

The 5-Series sedan bundles a lot of luxury and a lot of technology into a relatively tight package. The new 5-Series is being offered with two petrol engines (a 2.5 litre and a 3 litre) and one diesel engine (3 litre) options, which are teamed with a six-speed, fully electronic, automatic transmission system, including a manual or sports mode.

Interior features will include automatic air-conditioning, BMW’s famed enhanced iDrive, cruise control, sunroof, six-CD changer music system and hi-fi loudspeaker system, leather seat upholstery, fine wood trim dashboard inserts, leather steering wheel and inside and outside rear-view mirrors with anti-dazzle function.

Some innovative safety features that the new 5-Series will be offered with include the park distance control, automatic high-beam throw control, rain sensor, dynamic stability control and of course, run-flat tyres.

The new BMW 5 Series sedan will be available in an exclusive range of paint finishes — Black Sapphire, Monaco Blue, Titanium Silver and Platinum Grey — and luxurious upholstery materials — Dakota Leather Black, Dakota Leather Grey and Dakota Leather Beige.

The new 5 Series comes in three petrol variants — 523i, 525i and 530i — and one diesel variant — 525d. Ex-showroom prices for the petrol variants range from Rs 37 lakh for the 523i, Rs 40.9 lakh for the 525i to Rs 45 lakh for the 530i. The ex-showroom price of the 525d will be Rs 42.4 lakh. These prices will be applicable across all BMW dealerships in India.

Volkswagen Passat

The original people’s carmaker from Germany has just landed here, though we in India may not associate a Volkswagen with that tag. But that could become a reality with the German auto major planning a new, India-specific small car that could be launched in the next two years.

For now, Volkswagen has launched its globally popular sedan — the Passat — in the luxury segment. Assembled at Skoda’s India plant, the Passat was the easiest choice for VW, which, conscious of its late coming, wanted a quick entry strategy for this market.

As for the Passat itself, the winds of change will blow in for luxury sedan buyers, quite literally from Volkswagen. The Passat was named after a type of tropical trade wind. Volkswagen has shrewdly chosen to launch the new sedan with only a diesel engine option initially. A strategy that will help the company gain an immediate advantage over marquees like Toyota and Nissan, which only have petrol engines in their cars in this price segment.

The Passat is offered with a 2.0 litre TDI diesel engine that generates a peak output of 103 kW (140 bhp) and a peak torque of 320 Nm. It is said to be one of the most successful engines in the Volkswagen range. It has been paired with a 6-speed automatic DSG gearbox. Advanced occupant safety is one of the key features of the Passat, which comes equipped with eight airbags, which include side airbags for the rear passengers, Anti-Lock Braking System (ABS) and an Electronic Stabilisation Programme (ESP).

The Passat is also offered with latest features such as the ‘Press and Drive’ starting function, automatic driving light control with ‘Coming and Leaving Home’ function for better visibility. The ‘Climatronic’ air conditioning with 2-zone temperature control, leather upholstery, electric and manual sun blinds in the back, a 6-disc CD changer, alloy wheels and a rain sensor give the Passat the feel of a real luxury sedan. It is also the first vehicle in this class to have a push-button-operated Electromechanical Parking Brake (EPB).

The top version will come equipped with additional state-of the-art features such as front seats with electric 12-way adjustment, bi-xenon headlights with headlight cleaning system, electric sliding/tilting glass roof, parking sensors at front and rear, an anti-theft warning system and a multi-function steering wheel with operating facility for gear-change, multi-function display and radio.

Mercedes Benz C-Class

The super luxury car market in India was dominated by Mercedes Benz for the last about seven years. But the bit of complacency that creeps in from being a monopoly was not the only reason why Mercedes Benz India focussed more on the E-class saloon than the smaller C-Class.

The Indian subsidiary sold more of the E than the C. Even worldwide, the C-Class saloon tended to get lower attention from the parent company until Mercedes discovered that the age profile of its buyers was getting younger and that they were looking for a smaller sedan with as much technology, design chic and luxury as the bigger Mercedes saloons possess.

Of course, Mercedes Benz was also busy engineering whole new classes of cars such as the CLS, the B, the R and the GL classes. But along with the other luxury carmakers who also recognised the need for having a stronger small saloon packed with all the tech and goodies as their bigger, flagship cars, Mercedes Benz had been working on reinventing the C.

The C-Class has, as a result, gotten itself a makeover unlike any in the past. The new C was showcased at this year’s Geneva Motor Show and the change is more than skin deep. On the outside of the new C, gone are the familiar fused twin-eyed headlamps of the earlier generation. The new C-Class draws design inspiration from the Mercedes’ current generation S-Class and the CLS-Class cars.

The new C-Class is likely to be launched in India later this year or by early 2008. This new 2007 model of the entry-level Mercedes sedan could be offered with two petrol engine options and one diesel engine option and the variants themselves could be the C200K (Kompressor), C230 and the C220 CDI. Other standard equipment could include F1-style steering-wheel-mounted gearshift paddles for the automatic transmission, an agility control package with selective damping system and Mercedes’ popular Pre-Safe Intelligent system — the anticipatory safety system. Other standard safety features in the new C may include electronic stability programme with acceleration skid control, airbags all around, Neck Pro active head restraints and rain sensing wipers.

Interior features in the new C-Class could include dual-zone automatic climate control, leather covered multi-function steering wheel, headlamp assist for automatic headlamp activation, 8-speaker music system with 4.8-inch colour display and controller dial and a Bluetooth interface for hands-free telephony as part of standard fitment.

Pricing information about the new C-Class will only be available at the time of its launch, but the cars are likely to be positioned aggressively in comparison to its closest competitor — the BMW 3-Series sedans.

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