BMW clocks record sales in March; to hike capacity

German luxury carmaker BMW today reported 26.56 per cent jump in its Indian sales in March at 605 units, the highest ever sales that the company has recorded in a month in India.

BMW had sold 478 units in the same month last year. This was also the previous highest monthly sales record of BMW in India.

"Our March sales were the highest we have achieved in India so far and is also the highest ever monthly sales for a luxury car maker in India," BMW India President Peter Kronschnabl told reporters in New Delhi on Wednesday.

During the month, the company sold 298 units of the 3 Series sedan, 183 units of 5 series sedan, 54 units of 7 Series sedan, 11 units of Gran Turismo and the Z4 Roadster sold 13 units. The SUV segment did not do quite so well, however - the X3 sold just three units, while X5 clocked 20 units and the X6 23 units.

For the three-month period between January and March, BMW's cumulative sales stood at 1314 units.

Kronschnabl said with the company's production at the Chennai plant running at full capacity, it will announce a decision on further expanding it by the middle of this year.

"With the assembly of X1 scheduled to begin later this year at the Chennai plant, we definitely need to ramp up our capacity," he said.

The company has set a target of selling over 4,000 units this calendar year, as against 3,619 units last year.
 
"We know that the kind of sales we achieved in March will be difficult to maintain, but we are looking to double-digit growth this year," he said.