BMW 1 series

[VWBugy781]

Wondering if the new Chennai plants is likely to produce the one series (now sold in Europe). Have any of you heard anything on whether the localization is likely to lower prices to meaningful levels?

Can we hope to see what we are seeing with Hyundai - their cars seem to cost similar to what they do in the US.

[iraghava]

Originally Posted by VWBugy781

Wondering if the new Chennai plants is likely to produce the one series (now sold in Europe). Have any of you heard anything on whether the localization is likely to lower prices to meaningful levels?

Nope, even with some localization it'll be still too expensive. If you take European prices into account a boggo-spec 118/120 will start at around 15L at which of course it'll have no takers at all.

Localisation for premium cars like BMW/Merc etc. is very hard to do in a market like ours since our suppliers are still in the developing stage & cannot really meet the strigent standards of these marques. Of course, there are exception but they are few and far between. Of course most brands in the world are working with Indian suppliers to use them but for us to become a real force with high-quality components we still need a lot more time & money to be pumped into R&D.

What they can localise at the most is seats, tyres & maybe glasses. The major components like Suspensions parts, Engines, Derivetrains, Wiring Harnesses, ECU etc. still need to be imported. Hence, the high cost.

Originally Posted by VWBugy781

Can we hope to see what we are seeing with Hyundai - their cars seem to cost similar to what they do in the US.

Well that's because Hyundai has a very high percentage of localised parts. And not to mention it caters to an altogether segment of the market. Hyundai has also spent a lot of time & moeny into developing as a base for their small cars hence they can achieve high levels of localisation & consequently lower prices.

[mail4ajo]

BMW has committed to 3 and 5 series from the chennai plant for now. 7 series and the Mini is also under consideration. But it would take a while to see the Indian assembled 7series and others around.

Chennai has a good number of 3 and 7 series already and even a Mini through the import route.

[nitrous]

India is not yet ready for the 1 series. Give it atleast 5 to 10 years to mature .

[MaserQ]

Originally Posted by nitrous

India is not yet ready for the 1 series. Give it atleast 5 to 10 years to mature .

As and when it does mature, I hope they consider local production of the future 1 series saloon/drop top. Hey...you would still be driving a brand new beemer for 15-20 lacs!

[abdul 65 amg]

Should be nice to produce in India the 1 series. It would bring more customers because of its low price.The Mini could be good too.But BMW need to get suppliers in India.I know that Mercedes-benz has suppliers in India