After holding the numero uno spot in the luxury car segment for the last few months, BMW India is chalking out robust plans to retain its position and is aiming to sell nearly 3,000 units for this calendar year. The Indian arm of the Munich-based company, which has already sold close to 1,700 cars by the end of June, has firmed up plans to double in its dealership network to 24 by 2010-end. It has been learnt that company would also be adding 10 dealers in semi-urban areas like Coimbatore, Jaipur, Lucknow and Ludhiana, and a host of others, besides adding two showrooms in Gurgaon and West Delhi. It is to be noted that currently BMW India is assembling 3 and 5 series (accounting for 80 per cent of its overall sales) from its Maraimalai Nagar facility at Chennai in Tamil Nadu, and the other models like 7-series, X3, X5, X6 are imported through the completely built unit format. The company imports most of its critical components from its overseas supply base; with only 10 per cent content sourced from the domestic market, which includes seats, leather and door panels.

"In the first quarter of the year we have delivered 992 cars, which make us the number one player in the luxury segment. We don't know if we will remain the number one by the end of the year but the intention is to be there. We are on track to stay number one by the end of the year," BMW India President Peter Kronschnabl said to reporters during early this year. On the dealership expansion, he said the company expects each dealer from Tier II cities to contribute about 30-40 cars per year. He said while the standards of BMW dealerships are the same in both Tier I and II cities, those in the smaller cities will have only about 1-2 cars on display.

In addition to that, the German luxury carmaker has also lined up multiple roll-outs for the next few years, which includes new 3 Series sedan, X3 diesel SUV, two-seater Roadster Z4 (in the price band of Rs. 50-60 lakh). It has also tied up with ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank for financing its cars.