Tuesday, December 13, 2011
By Pranjal Gera
BMW Mini Cooper launching on 4th January
At last, it seems that the most inevitable wait is over, as the badge with flying wings; the iconic MINI brand will be launched on 4th of January 2012 in India. The BMW owned company MINI will be officially launched on the eve of 2012 Indian Auto Expo, Delhi. At present, the exact pricing of each vehicle is not announced by the firm, but as the MINI cars will fall in the premium class, it is expected to be priced around INR 25 Lakh going all the way to INR 40 Lakhs.
The company will initially launch three models namely Mini Cooper, Mini Cooper S and Mini Cooper Countryman followed by many other models in coming years. To start with, the company will import the cars as Completely Built Units (CBUs) that will also attract huge duty.
The MINI range of premium luxury cars with their diesel powertrains will provide acceptable but not economical mileage as the company has placed them as lifestyle products.
BMW will start its operations in India with the opening of two showrooms with one based in the national capital Delhi and other at the commercial capital of the nation, Mumbai. The company will expand further by increasing the number of dealerships in other major cities of the country.
With the launch date declared by the company, the premium luxury segment in India, which comprises of Mercedes Benz and Audi, has also lined up their vehicles in order to compete with MINI vehicles. Apart from Mercedes Benz and Audi, BMW brand vehicles also has a major share in the luxury segment, it will be interesting to see how it arranges its products without affecting the sales of its MINI labeled cars in the country.
Before its launch, various study and research work was carried out by BMW in India. The iconic brand that was initially owned by British Motor Corporation of United Kingdom was acquired by German luxury giant BMW in the year 1994.
