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BMW X1 at low price coming soon, work in progress

BMW launched the China manufactured BMW X1 compact SUV in March in the Chinese car market, however, the sales are not impressive. The low sales are due to the high price of the SUV which is hindering buyers to make it a part of their garage. To encourage BMW X1 sale in China, the German luxury car maker is working to rollout a stripped down version of X1 which is slated to launch in China by the end of 2012. X1 compact SUV is produced in China under the alliance of Brilliance and BMW.

BMW X1 price for the Chinese market begins at 282.000 yuan, however, the low priced X1 price is expected to be near around 260.000 yuan. Though the price will be pulled down, but a lot of features too will go amiss in the entry level X1. The exclusion of screen from the SUV would mean that the AC and radio/cd will be manually controlled. Moreover, the LED lights blinging the SUV will be gone, apart from this the leather upholstery and wood work inside the SUV will also be removed.

This isn’t it, the engine and gearbox too will see an awry change, 2.0 litre, our cylinder mill which can engender 150hp of power and 250Nm of torque will be harmonized to a six-speed manual transmission. The exclusion of a screen and an automatic gearbox might help BMW cut down BMW X1 price, but what remains to be seen, is whether the car will be able to drag the customers to the showrooms. At a time when auto makers are offering innovative features even in hatchbacks, BMW might make a mistake by precluding these essential features from the SUV. In our opinion, BMW should rather cut down on the cost and offer the same version to the customers.