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BMW to overtake Mercedes in India by 2009
By Yoann Besnard on 1 February 2008 | 
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BMW wants to overtake Mercedes on the fast growing Indian luxury car market in the coming few years. “As we get closer to Mercedes, you can imagine we have in our sight that we want to overtake Mercedes, whether we do it in 2009 or 2010 we will have to see,” said BMW Director Region Asia Pacific David Panton.
Last year, the German car maker sold 1,387 vehicles while it planned to sell 1,000 units. In india since the mid 90’s, Mercedes sold last year 2,491 cars. This year BMW plans to sell 2,000 vehicles built in its factory located in Chennai. Mercedes expects to deliver 3,000 vehicles this year.
David Panton said the Indian customers have accepted the BMW as a luxury brand and he considers the Indian market to be more stable and reliable than the Chinese market.
BMW has invested £15 million in the Chennai factory and plans to open a design center which will give the company the ability of better customization for the emerging market. BMW may also outsource a portion of Rolls Royce design and R&D to India.
