BMW India took its time joining the EV fray in our market, but ensured making its foray with a robust product offensive. In just six months, the Bavarian brand introduced three electric models in the Indian market- the MINI Cooper SE Electric hatch, BMW i4 electric sedan and the BMW iX SUV. The company has observed better than expected demand since all the three electric models were sold out within a month, and BMW's headquarters have already allocated more units to BMW India. In fact, the response took BMW by surprise and the company is now considering accelerating local manufacturing plans of electric vehicles in India.
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Speaking with Siddharth Vinayak Patankar, Editor-In-Chief, carandbike, Vikram Pawah, President, BMW India said, "Local production we always do when it reaches some kind of a threshold to produce locally. 98 per cent of what we sell today is locally produced. So once electric reaches the threshold and once the technology can be localised, of course we'll do that. This technology is evolving very fast, so don't have to invest looking at a timeframe of 10-15 years anymore. We're looking at very short timeframe now. So we're going to see that the demand is robust enough and stable enough, we invest."
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Pawah also mentioned that the company was preparing its India plant to manufacture electric drivetrains since the BMW i3 made its way to the company's research and training (R&D) centre back in 2018. And the plant is now ready to manufacture all types of drivetrains, be it the conventional petrol or diesel engines, mild-hybrid engines, plug-in hybrid units or electric drivetrains.
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BMW's arch rivals in India- Mercedes-Benz and Audi also marked their foray in the EV space with completely built units (CBUs) or imported electric vehicles. In fact, it took Mercedes a couple of years to begin with local manufacturing, after witnessing a rise in interest around its EVs, and BMW is likely to follow suit. Taking the CKD route will give BMW India cost advantage, and prices of its EVs are expected to be slashed by around 12 - 15 per cent in they are localised, as in case with any CKD model.
