Made-in-India BMWs from next week
TIMES NEWS NETWORK[ THURSDAY, MARCH 22, 2007 12:40:19 AM]
The India-assembled high-end BMW cars are set to formally roll out on March 29 at the company’s assembly facility near Chennai, when the plant’s operations are officially inaugurated.
It will initially roll out the BMW 3 series from the new assembly plant, reports D Govardan in Chennai. BMW’s plant has come up in Mahindra Global City, about 40 km south off Chennai.
The company has initially invested close to $26 million or Rs 110 crore in the plant, which will be used to assemble completely knocked down (CKD) kits, imported from Europe. It is expected to provide direct employment to about 200 people.
“Trial productions have started since the third week of February and cars have been rolled out to achieve stabilisation of assembly process. To begin with, the company intends to roll out six cars a day,” company sources told ET.
“At present, well over 90% of the components, except for seats and few other parts, are imported as part of the CKD kits. However, this is expected to be gradually reduced,” the sources added. Meanwhile, the company has also expanded and strengthened its dealership network in time for the roll out from India.
It now has a total of eight dealers, covering major cities. Besides two dealerships each in Delhi and Mumbai, it has one dealer each in Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Chandigarh. “It is likely to expand this to Kochi, Kolkata and Ahmedabad,” sources said.
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