BMW to commence production in March 2007

Luxury carmaker BMW says it will start assembling cars in India next month and expects to produce 1,000 vehicles in its first year of operations at its plant in Chennai and increase it to 1,700 cars next year.

BMW''s plant in Chennai is the group''s fifth in Asia and will make 3 and 5 series exclusively for the Indian market. The luxury carmaker reported sales of 257 cars in India last year out of combined sales of luxury brands like Mercedes-Benz, Lexus and Audi.

But that has not deterred the Munich-based company from setting a target of 10,000 vehicles by 2012.

BMW, the world''s biggest premium carmaker ahead of DaimlerChrysler''s Mercedes-Benz, plans to sell 150,000 cars in Asia by next year. In 2006 it reported a year on year sales growth in of 13.8 per cent to a record 126,949 vehicles.

BMW has announced a 5-per cent rise in 2006 group sales to a record €49 billion ($64 billion / Rs280,770 crore).