German luxury car maker BMW India has begun assembly of the diesel variant of its flagship brand, the BMW 7-Series car, at its Chennai facility, and launched the first of this Made-in-India product today.
Deliveries of this car, which will be built from completely knocked down kits, as well as three more petrol variants that will be imported as completely built units, will begin from May 1, the company said.
Earlier this year, BMW began assembling the new X1 at Chennai.
“We will begin making the 1-Series at Chennai in September,” Philipp von Sahr, President-BMW Group India, said.
The group had invested €50 million to raise its capacity to 11,000 units in the last 2-3 years, and will continue to invest, he added.
The company had sold 9,375 units last year, Sahr said, but declined to comment on the sales projections for this year.
7-Series features
The new diesel 7-Series has TwinPower Turbo six-cylinder engine, and produces a maximum torque of 560Nm at 1500 rpm.
The features include 8-speed automatic transmission, and an attention assist function that recognises if the driver is tired and issues an alert.
The car has been priced at Rs 92.9 lakh (ex-showroom), while the prices of the petrol variants (749Li, 750 Li and 760 Li) range from Rs 1.13 crore to 1.73 crore.