(September 29, 2010) It seems all of the world's automakers are seeking an increased presence in India, one of the world's fastest growing markets.

So it came as no surprise that tThe BMW Group announced last week that is strengthening its commitment in India. As a first step, local production capacity at the BMW plant in Chennai has been increased from 3,000 to 5,400 units and the dealer network further expanded.

 “India is a market that holds great potential for the future for us and is a building block in our global market offensive. Our success so far has proved that our ‘production-follows-the-market’ strategy, which has already been successful in markets such as the US and China, is the right approach,” said Frank-Peter Arndt, member of the Board of Management of BMW AG, responsible for Production.

“At the same time as we are expanding capacity, we will also be gearing the plant to produce a further model for the Indian market, the X1, starting in November 2010 and thereby opening up new customer segments.”

A new version
of the BMW X1 will
be built in India

In addition to strengthening capacity, a new vehicle logistics center will also be set up on the grounds of the Chennai plant, for which land has already been acquired. By mid-2012, the BMW Group will have invested a total of EUR 30 million in India since launching production there in 2007.

At the same time, BMW is also stepping up its local sales and marketing activities. To meet rising customer demand for BMW vehicles and services, its sales network will be systematically expanded to 22 dealerships by 2011 – almost doubling its size since early 2009. Towards the end of this year, BMW Financial Services will also begin offering its financial services in the Indian market for the first time.

In the first eight months of this year alone, BMW sales in India climbed 43 percent to reach a total of 3,301 units. This means that the BMW Group has already sold almost as many vehicles in India this year as in the whole of 2009.