BMW ups investment to Rs. 490 crore; touches 50% localisation

Earlier this year, German luxury carmaker BMW, had announced that it had started sourcing different components for local production of its cars at the Chennai plant from various Indian manufacturers and in the process, increased the level of localisation at its Chennai plant to approximately 50%. Now, the company revealed that it has increased its cumulative investment in India from Rs. 390 crore to Rs. 490 crore. Most of this investment has been route to the Chennai plant.

BMW claims that 95% of BMW cars on Indian roads are built at its Chennai plant, which has a capacity to produce 14,000 units. The facility has two assembly lines and locally assembles models such as the 1-Series, 3-Series, 3-Series Gran Turismo, 5-Series, 7-Series, X1, X3 and X5.

In 2014, BMW sold about 6,400 cars in India. With the increased localisation, BMW should be able to price its models more competitively, which the company hopes will translate into better sales. BMW also plans to introduce 15 new models in the current year and to increase it dealership network in the country to 50 with a focus on tier-2 cities.

The rest of the investment that BMW has made has gone into various training programmes that the company has been conducting in the country for current and prospective employees. Its training facility at Gurgaon has the capacity to train 18,000 people from mechanics to sales and service personnel depending upon the company's needs.

Source: The New Indian Express, Economic Times