BMW India has no immediate plans to build EVs locally, banks on subsidies to perk up numbers

Florian Kuenstner (L), MINI Vice President, Region Asia-Pacific, Eastern Europe, Middle East & Africa withVikram Pawah (R), MD & Prez, BMW Group India with the new-gen MINI Cooper S & Countryman Electric

Despite leading the luxury electric car race in the country, BMW Group India has maintained that it has no plans to locally build battery-driven cars in the near term. A senior company official stated that despite seeing encouraging response to its total Battery Electric Vehicle (BEV) portfolio, the low numbers don’t justify local assembly of such products.

As Vikram Pawah, President and Chief Executive Officer BMW India puts it, “Whenever we reach a threshold of certain volumes, we will start producing them locally. EV sales, though encouraging, are very low for us. As they grow, we will take a call on its production.”

At present, BMW Group India now offers six EVs in India - BMW i7, BMW iX, BMW i5, BMW i4, BMW iX1 and MINI SE. The range got expanded further with the launch of MINI Countryman E electric SUV and BMW CE 04, the first electric two-wheeler by BMW Motored India.

“If we compare like to like models like IX7 and 7 Series, we got almost 45 percent penetration of BEVs. The penetration (of EVs) in India is quite encouraging. Of course, if you look at our bottomline, the EV’s contribution is just 7-10 percent,” added Pawah.

He also stated, “There is no product development (of EVs) at every price point. Once that happens, the segment will grow very fast.” The company is aiming to derive 10 percent by the end of this year.  He also noted that the automaker, besides introducing new models, is also investing in establishing charging infrastructure to aid the growth of the segment.

The German luxury carmaker affirmed that incentives are necessary to support the growth of the EV market. According to a global BMW official, market here is still evolving and efforts should continue to smoothen and “accelerate” this transition.

Jean-Philippe Parain, BMW Group Senior Vice President, Region Asia Pacific, Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa, said: “The strongest incentives from the state should be for EVs. Offering incentives enable us to introduce electric models at price points closer to ICEVs. That will ensure that there will a seamless transition to e-mobility.”

Parain stated that there is potential for BEVs in India and the company is looking to drive in more battery-powered models in the country.  He also revealed that apart from battery electric vehicles, the automaker is also investing in internal combustion engine models, plug-in hybrids and also thinking about hydrogen vehicles.

BMW Group India revealed that 397 units of fully electric BMW and MINI cars were sold in the first six months of this year. The company claimed that it became the first luxury car manufacturer in the country to cross the milestone of over 2,000 EV deliveries till date.  It also claimed that BMW iX is the most “popular luxury EV” in India with over 1,000 units sold till date.

While acknowledging that the company's sales were impacted in China, he maintained, "India is an exception and there is a need to sustain this growth going forward."

Parain noted that in some countries, where customers drive longer distances, Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicles (PHEVs) can be a bridge between EVs and ICEVs. "But if I were to speak for India, I would focus on the full transition to full electric vehicles", said Parain, adding, “We plan to remain flexible when it comes to technologies.”

BMW Group India had earlier announced that it has logged the highest ever sales in the country in the first half of the year with delivery of 7,098 units to customers. The luxury carmaker saw its sales increase 21 per cent year-on-year from 5,867 units in the January-June period of 2023. It also sold 3,614 BMW Motorrad motorcycles during the period.

When asked out the sales target for this year, Pawah said, “Right now, it all about growing. So you can see we are growing constantly at the fast pace and that is the aim. with the introduction of these models,  our sales would be better in second half than H1," affirmed Pawah.