The Hindu : Business : BMW raises manufacturing capacity

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Wednesday, Mar 12, 2008
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Business

BMW raises manufacturing capacity

Special Correspondent

Opens ultra-modern showroom
To ramp up staff strength

CHENNAI: BMW India has raised the capacity of its manufacturing plant near here to 3,000 cars from 1,700 cars a year.

Disclosing this at a press conference here on Tuesday, to mark the inauguration of its dealership facility Kun Exclusive here, Peter Kronschnabl, President, BMW India, said the company had invested half-a-million euro to increase the capacity. He said any further scale-up in investment would depend on how the market evolved in India. The capacity increase was done through optimisation of the production facility, he added.

Asserting that “there is no standing still at BMW India during 2008,” Mr. Kronschnabl said the company would reach out to customers with services conforming to global standards. BMW, he said, sold 1,387 cars in 2007, exceeding its plan of selling 1,000 cars. The sales target for 2008 was 2,000 cars, he added. “Eighty per cent of cars sold in 2008 will come from the Chennai facility,” he said. January and February had been record months which saw the company selling 229 and 241 cars, respectively, he said. At present, BMW India had an employee strength of 200. This number would go up considerably by the middle of this year, he added. BMW was working on introducing S6 in India.

He indicated that the India launch would happen in 2009, as the homologation process itself would take a few months.

On the introduction of Mini in India, he said, “Mini is a brand and not a bike.” BMW had concluded market analysis on launching Mini in India. “We have to hold discussions with our headquarters on whether to introduce Mini or not,” he said, declining to disclose the findings of the analysis. “Mini is a premium car in the small segment,” he said.

The President hinted at establishing a pan-India training forum for those who drove BMW cars.

Located on the GST Road, Kun Exclusive is an ultra-modern showroom integrated with an after-sales service facilityThe facility is capable of servicing 20 cars a day.

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