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With BS-VI norms kicking in on April 1, 2020, now is the right time for consumers to purchase cars, according to German luxury carmaker BMW.
“BS-IV for us is an opportunity rather than an adversity...it is an opportunity for the consumers before BS-VI comes. It is the right time to get into the world of joy. We have many programmes customised at various levels. For instance, there are a lot of offers on upgrades,” Rudratej Singh, President and CEO, BMW Group India, told BusinessLine on the sidelines of a product launch here.
The company has a line-up of BS-VI (only petrol) cars, too, but there are many offers on the BS-IV cars — both petrol and diesel — which customers can explore, he added.
Through it promotional offers, BMW expects to garner a giant share of the luxury car market. “When the tide turns, we will take the lion’s share,” Singh quipped, adding that the company understands the pulse of Indian customers.
“Our job is about expansions and not just playing musical chair in a small room of three or four people. We are building upon our brand and our sales will be an outcome of that. We will continue to be better than the others,” he said. “We need to understand the Indian psyche — and there is a correlation to that (for sales). People nowadays are brand and value conscious. If there is brand and value, Indians have the power to adopt that. So, we don’t have many challenges when it comes to sales or prices,” he added.
The company is closely competing with the lead player in the luxury car market, Mercedes-Benz, which had sold 6,561 units in the January-June period this year. BMW Group India sold 5,579 units during the period, which is a drop of 4 per cent against the same period last year.
Audi India, which is also in the race, does not share half-yearly or quarterly numbers. Once the No 1 player in the Indian luxury car market, Audi had sold 6,463 units in the country last year, against 7,876 units in 2017.
3 Series launch
BMW on Wednesday launched the all-new BMW 3 Series priced at ₹41-48 lakh (ex-showroom) and is available in three design schemes — Sport, Luxury Line and M Sport.
It is available in two diesel variants (BMW 320d Sport and BMW 320d Luxury Line) and in one petrol variant (BMW 330i M Sport), which are locally produced.
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