Bullish on India, BMW launches BMW Gran Turismo, BMW X6M, BMW 760Li at Auto Expo 2010

BMW Z4 sDrive 35i

Global financial crisis. What is that? That, in a nutshell, seems to be the way in which BMW is expanding it’s Indian operations. The German car manufacturer bullishly launched three new models, the BMW Gran Turismo, BMW X6M and BMW 760Li at the Auto Expo 2010 in New Delhi. In a further attestation to it’s belief in the long term Indian growth story, BMW has also earmarked $50 million to kick start it’s auto financing biz, due for a launch in the latter half of 2010.

We managed to get a few sound bytes from BMW India president Peter Kronschnabl at the 2010 Auto Expo and he had this to say about BMW’s India operations.

“Despite all challenges, BMW India delivered strong operating performance in 2009 and achieved a market leadership in the luxury car segment. This is the most successful market entry for BMW in any country,”

“The BMW Group will further increase its commitments in India by bringing in more investments in the country through further capital investment in BMW plant in Chennai and BMW Financial Services India,” he added.

Like we had reported earlier, the baby beemer SUV, the BMW X1 would be launched during the end of 2010 instead of early 2011. The BMW X1 will join the likes of the BMW 3 Series and the BMW 5 Series and like the sedans, would be manufactured in India at it’s greenfield manufacturing facility in Chennai. BMW India is also planning to increase its installed capacity at its Chennai manufacturing Unit. That, if not anything else is a surefire indicator of BMW India’s growing success.