BMW promises luxury at Rs 28.9 lakh

German carmaker BMW on Friday launched its 3 Series in India as part of a strategy to corner more market share, even as other luxury car makers such as Audi and Mercedes—both, ironically, of German provenance—nip at its heels.

The luxury sedan is being offered in three versions—a basic 320d, the Luxury Line and the Sport Line. A petrol version is available only for the sport version. It is also the only one with manual transmission.

The pricing is reasonable, too, for a car in that league—Rs 28.9 lakh for the basic 320d, Rs 31.5 lakh for the diesel Luxury and Sport Line versions, Rs 36.9 lakh for the diesel Luxury Plus, and Rs 37.9 lakh for the luxury petrol version.

The cars come in Alpine White and Melbourne Red as non-metallic colours, and Black Sapphire, Glacier Silver, Havanna, Imperial Blue Brilliant Effect and Mineral Grey in a metallic finish.

The petrol version is the zippiest of the lot, going from 0 to 100 km/h in 6.1 seconds, and has a top speed of 250 km/h, while the 320d goes from 0 to 100 km/h in 7.6 seconds, with a top speed of 235 km/h.

BMW currently leads the luxury market segment in the country, but has seen sales decline this year, while Audi is fast catching up.

According to figures released by the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers earlier this month, Audi's sales in the first three months of the fiscal have jumped by 52.15 per cent to 1,908 units from 1,254 units in the year-ago period. On the other hand, sales of BMW declined by 12.16 per cent to 2,088 units as against 2,377 units.