BMW has confirmed the launch of the all new 1 Series for the Indian market. With the competition heating up and the other premium brands launching more affordable luxury cars, BMW plans to launch these models to keep its number one position secure. India will get the 1 Series 5 door hatch and we hope the company does consider to launch the M 135i 3 door or the M135i 5 door variants.
BMW may have taken this step considering the booming sales of the X1 Sports activity vehicle and to counter competition, as its arch rival Mercedes-Benz, will launch the A-Class hatch in 2013.
The 1 Series will cheapest offering and will locally assembled at the Chennai plant. The latest generation 1-Series (F20) is 4.2-metres in long and rear wheel drive unlike the A-Class which is a front wheel drive. The 1 Series is based on the new 3 Series platform and shares a lot of its components.
Internationally, BMW 1-series gets 1.6-litre and 2.0-litre petrol and diesel engines, and even a turbocharged 3.0-litre, six-cylinder petrol in the 135i, but the Indian version could get the powerplants from the X1 to keep costs low. The 2.0-litre diesel engine makes 181 bhp while the 2.0-litre petrol produces 150 bhp.
With local assemble pricing could be well under the 20 lakh mark. We can expect some aggressive pricing strategy from the German car maker.
Globally the BMW 1Series competes with the Mercedes-Benz A-Class and Audi A3. Now we need to wait and watch if Audi too plans to launch the A3 in the Indian market.
