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German luxury carmaker BMW is looking to expand the MINI portfolio in India next year in order to cater to rising demand for the range beyond metro cities, according to the company's President and CEO, Hardeep Singh Brar. The company, which now has MINI Cooper, MINI Countryman JCW and MINI Convertible in its portfolio, is looking to expand its sales network in smaller cities and towns as the brand gains acceptance beyond major cities. "We are looking at a couple of more products under the MINI portfolio next year," Brar told PTI in an interaction. The luxury carmaker will be expanding its sales network further next year, adding locations like Jaipur, Lucknow and Ranchi, and all these small towns where the company has no presence currently. "We are present in about nine cities (for MINI). We want to double the number of cities next year, so that it has a presence beyond the metro cities. We are now slowly and gradually getting a lot of demand from the smaller markets as well," Brar
German luxury carmaker BMW is looking to hike vehicle prices from next month as it aims to offset the impact of the weakened rupee against the euro, company's President and CEO Hardeep Singh Brar said on Thursday. The company had earlier announced to increase prices by up to 3 per cent from September 1 this year, citing the adverse impact of continued forex fluctuation and global supply chain dynamics. BMW currently sells a range of luxury cars and SUVs, including electric vehicles, starting with the 2 Series Gran Coupe priced at Rs 45.3 lakh and the XM tagged at Rs 2.54 crore, in the Indian market. "Forex fluctuation is a big dampener. We were looking at somewhere about 93 to 95 (rupee against euro) this year, but it is actually around 103 to 105, so it's about 10 per cent deterioration versus our expectation. So that puts a lot of pressure on pricing and profitability," Brar told PTI. He noted that the company was not considering raising prices with the new GST rates coming into
The opposition on Wednesday hit out at anti-graft ombudsman Lokpal after it floated a tender to procure seven luxurious BMW cars, saying the guardians of integrity are chasing luxury over legitimacy. Senior Congress leader and former home minister P Chidambaram questioned as to when judges of the Supreme Court are provided modest sedans, why do the chairman and six members of the Lokpal require BMW cars. "Why spend public money to acquire these cars? I hope that at least one or two members of the Lokpal have refused, or will refuse, to accept these cars," Chidambaram said on X. Senior Congress leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi also criticised the move and took a swipe at Lokpal. "I chaired the Parliamentary Committee on Lokpal. Dr. L.M. Singhvi first conceived idea of Lokpal in the early 1960s. To see this anti-corruption body now ordering BMWs for its members is tragic irony, the guardians of integrity chasing luxury over legitimacy," Singhvi said on X. In another post, he said, "8,70
A court here on Saturday granted bail to Gaganpreet Kaur, the key accused in the BMW accident case. Kaur, 38, is accused of being behind the wheel of the BMW car that rammed into a two-wheeler being ridden by Navjot Singh, a senior finance ministry official, and his wife. The 52-year-old government employee died, while his wife was grievously injured in the incident. Judicial Magistrate Ankit Garg directed that Kaur be released on a personal bond of Rs 1 lakh along with two sureties of the same amount. He also ordered Kaur to surrender her passport as part of the bail condition. A detailed order in the matter is awaited. Before pronouncing the order, the court noted that an ambulance reached the incident spot but remained there for around 30 seconds instead of rushing the injured to the nearest hospital. Navjot Singh succumbed to his injuries, which he sustained on Ring Road near the Delhi Cantonment Metro station on September 14. He was a deputy secretary in the Department of
A Delhi court on Wednesday extended till September 27 the judicial custody of the woman who drove the BMW car involved in a crash that left a senior finance ministry official dead and his wife injured in Dhaula Kuan here. Judicial magistrate Ankit Garg extended her judicial custody. The court also issued notice on a plea by the accused seeking preservation of the accident's CCTV footage. The plea will be heard on Thursday. Arguments on her bail plea were also heard by the court, which posted the matter for Saturday. Gaganpreet Kaur, 38, was remanded to two days of judicial custody on September 15 after being arrested on charges of culpable homicide not amounting to murder and other offences. Deputy Secretary in the Department of Economic Affairs, Navjot Singh (52), a resident of Hari Nagar, was killed in the accident on the Ring Road near the Delhi Cantonment Metro station on Sunday afternoon. They were returning home after visiting the Bangla Sahib Gurdwara.
The wife of the senior government official killed in a collision between their motorcycle and a luxury car near the Delhi Cantonment Metro station had repeatedly pleaded with the accused couple to get them admitted to a nearby hospital, but to no avail, according to the FIR lodged in the case. "The lady took us to a small hospital in GTB Nagar, far from the accident site," the bereaved woman told police in a statement, which is now part of the FIR. Van driver Mohammad Gulfam, who had rushed all four injured people to the hospital, has also made a similar claim. "I was driving a loading vehicle, stopped and rushed the injured to a hospital in Azadpur after the man and the woman in the car asked me to take them there," he told PTI. Police have contacted Gulfam to record his statement. Deputy Secretary in the Department of Economic Affairs, Navjot Singh (52), a resident of Hari Nagar, was killed in the accident on the Ring Road near the Delhi Cantonment Metro station on Sunday afterno
The woman who allegedly drove the BMW car that hit a motorcycle here, killing a senior finance ministry official, has been taken into custody after being discharged from the hospital on Monday, police said. Deputy Secretary in the Department of Economic Affairs, Navjot Singh (52), a resident of Hari Nagar, was killed in the accident on the Ring Road near the Delhi Cantonment Metro station on Sunday afternoon. His wife sustained serious injuries. They were returning home after visiting the Bangla Sahib Gurdwara. The woman, who was allegedly driving the luxury car, and her husband were also injured in the incident. The Gurugram couple was admitted to a hospital for treatment. After her discharge, she was taken into custody for further questioning and legal proceedings, said a police officer. Police have registered a case of culpable homicide in the matter under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita sections 281 (rash driving or riding on a public way), 125B (acts endangering life or personal safet
Luxury automotive group BMW is offering a price protection assurance program to Indian customers looking to buy MINI 3-Door Cooper S model produced at its Oxford plant in the UK, amid anticipated duty cuts in the wake of India-UK FTA pact, a top company official said on Friday. BMW Group India will pass on the benefits of any price reduction in the near future on MINI 3-Door Cooper S model under a limited period offer covering cars bought from now onwards till the next 180 days, its President and CEO Vikram Pawah told PTI. He said while the government has announced that the negotiations of the India-UK FTA pact are final, the details are awaited, which has created uncertainty in the minds of customers looking to buy the MINI 3-Door Cooper S model, which is powered by a petrol engine. "We have been getting calls from customers as to what the impact is, because MINI 3-Door Cooper S is coming from the UK, what will happen, whether they should buy now or not," he said. In order to ...
Mercedes-Benz and BMW have termed the India-UK free trade agreement (FTA) a positive development while noting that it would not have much bearing on the prices of luxury cars in the country. Last week, India and the UK sealed a landmark FTA that will lower tariffs on 99 per cent of Indian exports and would make it easier for British firms to export whisky, cars and other products to India, besides boosting the overall trade basket. The aim is to double two-way commerce by 2030 from the present USD 60 billion India has included adequate safeguards in the agreement to protect its sensitive sectors and in the automobile segment, the import duty will be reduced over 10-15 years. The duty concession on imports of petrol and diesel engine vehicles from the UK is limited to a pre-defined quota. "Fundamentally, we have always advocated free trade as a multinational company, because we feel that free trade helps in better growth... So I think for us, definitely it's a real welcome move, ...