[Tushar]

BMW has finally launched the updated 3-Series in India. The sedan has only been launched in the diesel variants and the petrol grade will be added later in 2016. The new BMW 3-Series is locally assembled at BMW's Chennai facility and can be ordered at BMW dealerships across India from today onwards.

The updated 3-Series will be available in four variants i.e. Prestige, Sport Line, Luxury Line and M Sport. Given below are the variant wise all-India ex-showroom prices:

320d Prestige: Rs. 35.90 lakh
320d Sport Line: Rs. 41.50 lakh
320d Luxury Line: Rs. 41.50 lakh
320d M Sport: Rs. 44.50 lakh





The car is powered by a 2.0L, 4-cylinder diesel engine that makes 188 BHP and 400 Nm of torque. 0-100 km/h comes up in a claimed 7.2 seconds with its top speed rated at 230 km/h. Power is transmitted through an 8-speed automatic gearbox with the Sport Line, Luxury Line and M Sport featuring paddle shifters.

Colours available include Alpine White as a non-metallic colour and Black Sapphire, Platinum Silver, Jatoba, Imperial Blue Brilliant Effect, Melbourne Red, Mediterranean Blue and Estoril Blue as metallic colours.

The refreshed 3-Series gets minor cosmetic changes such as new front and rear bumpers with revised air intakes and is available with features like LED headlights, LED fog lights, LED indicators, LED tail lamps, and the BMW ConnectedDrive feature which includes BMW iDrive, BMW Apps, Radio BMW Professional, Park Distance Control (PDC) and connectivity through Bluetooth and USB devices as standard. The BMW navigation system professional (integrated GPS), with an 8.8-inch high-resolution display is available in the Sport Line, Luxury Line and M Sport grades.

The 3-Series M Sport is equipped with the M aerodynamic package, an M leather steering wheel, front sports seats and an additional Sport+ drive mode. In addition to the BMW navigation system professional, the car gets a full colour head-up display. The M Sport variant is also available with new leather upholstery options with accents.

[dark.knight]

BMW & their diesel launches yet again, I fail to understand why cant they simply release both fuel variants at the same time and cash in on the "newness" factor, for whatever its worth.

If they do happen to release a 320i Prestige variant then it may be priced at between 31-32 lakhs which would make it good value for money. From the current line-up I'd say the 320d Prestige makes the best sense, I dunno what's a part of this variant but as long as it has airbags & ABS I wouldn't really care if it has iDrive or HUD, its a 3 series which is a car known for and designed towards driving and too many features aren't greatly necessary.

The mathematics is this - BMW's all time best seller has been the 3, and it adds up to a substantial percentage of annual sales today (according to 2014 sales figure 25% of all of BMW Group sales), however it is also known today that Mercedes & Audi are overtaking it quite quickly world over and the most in India. Its about time BMW fights back with better pricing, better variants and drills the sales yet again using the 3 as its spearhead. The M variant is least VFM given that India hardly has any roads to squeeze out such power.

[Vid6639]

Under the skin, this new BMW 3 series is supposed to get a host of mechanical improvements.

The older car was criticised heavily for losing some of the 3 series character when it comes to fun to drive.

The 3 series LCI (life cycle Impulse) gets a new electric power steering unit which is supposed to be quicker than the older one.

The front and rear suspension is retuned to offer better ride but focuses on reducing roll and handle directional changes better.

[blackasta]

I do not check luxury car threads often, but the 320D now starts from 35 Lakhs??
IIRC in the mid 2000s it used to start from 20-22 Lakh (maybe corporate edition)
Are these models CKD and we have the dollar value to blame?
or is it simply the luxury car market is way overpriced now?

[dark.knight]

Originally Posted by blackasta

I do not check luxury car threads often, but the 320D now starts from 35 Lakhs??
IIRC in the mid 2000s it used to start from 20-22 Lakh (maybe corporate edition)
Are these models CKD and we have the dollar value to blame?
or is it simply the luxury car market is way overpriced now?

Pricing in general, has gone up across the range. Be it an entry level hatchback, a luxury large hatch or a D segment sedan. We have an Elite i20 Asta diesel getting very close to 7 figure mark, a 1.2 litre petrol VW Polo TSi crossing well into 11 lacs, an Innova diesel top variant getting very close to 2 million Rupee mark (or exceeding it?) etc. Car prices have risen on average by between Rs.10-30k constantly every year and then some more by feature additions/facelifts. BMW's have gone through about 3-4 price hikes since the days of 20-22 lakh ex-showroom figures which were for the E90 shape, since then we've had the F30 launch which took prices up easily by 20% apart from annual hikes, and now the F30 update.

Given today's value for money (which isn't much from what I can see), these prices agree well for an entry level luxury sedan. Discounts may be given when purchased at an appropriate time like year end or during stock clearance.

[Turbanator]

cash in on the "newness" factor, for whatever its worth.

well most of Petrol variants in past have been loss makers for BMW , their engines are less than 2000 so they are not worried about the ban in NCR either and will prefer to wait & see how others specially Mercedes performs on Petrol numbers . Launching a variant is one thing but ensuring spares and services for such variants that does not bring numbers is going to cost. I think its a fair call to see how Petrol market re-develops in coming months.

The M variant is least VFM given that India hardly has any roads to squeeze out such power.

M Variant referred in this thread has got nothing to do with additional power - that variant ( M3) is totally different and it costs about 3 times of 320-d-M Sports

[RakishRam]

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[Turbanator]

is this a much aggressive price compared to current model? Or I got confused?

Same prices for Prestige variant as outgoing , luxury & sports are higher by 2 lac , perhaps due to better equipment. But if you factor discounts on the existing , new ones are higher at present - maybe couple of months later we can see discounts again - not to extent on outgoing one though.

[Santoshbhat]

Looks like prices have been increased by about 1.5 Lakhs each for the Luxury and sportline variants. I really wonder how they are going to hold on to these prices given that discounts of close to 10 Lakhs on the OTR were being given on the 3 in December.

All variants are the same mechanically. Its only the gizmos and kit that varies. Almost 8.50 Lakhs difference between the base and top variant is huge.

I believe dealers and BMW India are still carrying huge inventories of the pre LCI 3. I wonder how they are going to sell them off. I am sure we are going to see a huge discount sale in March once again.

Problem for BMW is that one the one hand the new C class, being new, is attracting lot of buyers in the segment and on the other hand the A4 has massive discounts on it.

[bharatbs]

With these new features expect BMW to claim that they offer the same kit as the c-class. So don't expect much discounts, until unless they clear the old stock entirely.

On a separate note, I hope they offer these upgrades as optional extras on the existing 3 series, would love to get the paddle shifts some how.

[Turbanator]

old stocks are almost sold , whatever are left are being sold with varying discounts depending on your negotiations / need of distributor

optional extras on the existing 3 series, would love to get the paddle shifts some how.

I think you can order these separately with a new steering wheel , double check with your parts manager.

[Sahil]

I expected BMW to be more aggressive on their pricing this time. If not a price cut,they ought to have not increased prices. Given their dwindling sales, their pricing strategy gives a sense of high headedness.

[Turbanator]

Given their dwindling sales, their pricing strategy gives a sense of high headedness.

well not really , I think its more of a cycle , there are few years when either of these 3 or should I say 2 - Mercedes and BMW see sales increase and then decrease , if we compare prices of 3 with C then these are competitive but most of folks buy C even at higher prices , they need to address on design and styling front - what they have offered in new 7 has to come down to 5 & 3 at earliest , whatever numbers of 5 they are doing are possible only till new E is away.

Another issue is the perception / actual discounts BMW India offers , I remember having picked mine 320d way back in 2008 with nil discounts - to tell you truth i even didn't asked and so did many others who were happy to pick such cars at Zero Discounts and then couple of years later discount became norm with BMW , the other day I was checking a 2015 S class at Chandigarh dealership and the lady will offer me a special discount of Rs 15,000 on last Year S class being a regular BMW customer and with BMW - I have already told local dealer to book new 7 for me if he is oK with Invoice + ..

So all in all in my opinion current leadership is to blame for the fiasco - they don't have a clear policy - they don't know at what price they want to sell there products and with whom they want to compete , I understand competition or product itself is not in hand with marketing but they should have a clear idea how to price - if they want to continue this approach of launching products at higher prices and discounting later on due to dud sales , I am afraid most customers will have trouble making decisions and will result in loss of sales to other brands.

[amit]

BMW had hiked prices by 2% from January 1, 2016 - I guess the increased prices are reflecting that increase. To be fair, many car companies increased prices citing rising input costs. This included Mercedes-Benz.

As for the refresh we knew what was coming so it's not something that's surprised us. The M sport is tempting but is 3 Lakhs ex-showroom worth it for sport+ mode and HUD? Rest are cosmetic upgrades and yes, they are extremely 'feel good' upgrades but again do we need aerodynamic package, sports seats and all that for a 180 hp diesel?

If BMW have sorted out the steering and suspension to give the car back a bit of the BMW dna then kudos to them!

I understand the LED lights are optional extra's. The website doesn't even show the LCI as launched so do we know how much extra the LED's cost? Or are the LED's standard in sport & luxury line and M sport?

[GTO]

Can't BMW even provide images of an Indian car in its press releases? This is the height of shortcut work - a LHD car . These things just show the state of affairs at BMW India, and how many leaks they need to fix.

With reference to the 3-Series, it's not going anywhere at these prices. Anyone interested should just wait for the discounts to start rolling.

M-Sport's pricing is the joke of the week. It crosses 50 lakhs on the road in Mumbai . What dreamland is BMW in?