Green and mean: BMW’s plans for India

BMW ActiveHybrid 7-series launching in July; i8 to follow suit in December.

Published On May 31, 2014 03:53:00 PM

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The BMW i8 will go on sale in India in December 2014.

The BMW 7 Active Hybrid comes with a petrol engine mated to an electric motor.

Only 6 BMW i8s will be available in India for sale this year.

The BMW M3 and M4 will hit Indian showrooms around the festive season.

BMW has planned a lot of excitement for the second half of 2014. Apart from the X3 facelift, there are some revolutionary new products headed for India.

Starting July, BMW will paint the brand green with the launch of its ActiveHybrid 7. This 7-series’s petrol-electric powertrain combines a 3.0-litre straight-six petrol engine and a 40kw electric motor for propulsion. This parallel hybrid has enough juice for a few kilometres of electric-only driving. Rest of the time, the electric motor supports the petrol engine for better drivability and performance. This mild hybrid assist can deliver better fuel efficiency but expecting it to justify the higher price tag that this CBU is likely to come with will be a tall task. BMW is well aware that the ActiveHybrid 7 will not sell in big numbers; however, company sources say that the ActiveHybrid 7 will be the first step in establishing a green image for BMW in India and hence pave the way for their path-breaking i8 plug-in hybrid.

BMW’s i8 is the supercar that combines truly green credentials with performance and a driving experience that is near enough to traditional supercars to be a genuine alternative to them. The i8 will go on sale in India in December 2014 with deliveries starting early 2015. However, strong demand across the globe has resulted in limited supply and the Indian market is likely to be allocated only six cars for the first year. In the second year, twenty-five units of this Rs 1.6 crore supercar are likely to be available.

However, if you like your thrills to be traditional, that is to say, louder, faster and thirstier, then you won’t have to wait too long. That’s because the very soul of BMW’s M Division, the M3 and M4 will go on sale in India before the festive season in 2014. The M3 and M4 are the very essence of the M brand — light, fast and deliciously engaging to drive.

The M3 and M4 will be brought to India as CBUs and will be priced at around Rs 1.2 crore. However, for driving enthusiasts, the M3 and M4 deliver the thrills that the bigger M cars just can’t.

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