Mini to be available only in two cities

BMW AG will introduce its iconic premium small car, Mini only in two cities.

If the company launches the Mini in India, it will be available only in two markets-specifically Delhi and Mumbai. These are the biggest markets for this brand which is a small car in terms of size but a luxury car in terms of price.

BMW's Munich-based headquarters will take a decision in a month on bringing the car to India. The company has completed a feasibility study on the potential of the premium car in the Indian market, in which small cars have been synonymous with inexpensive cars. BMW, however, hopes the car could be a third car for high net worth Indians with a love of the high life.

BMW will import the car as fully-built units and not assemble them at its Chennai plant. The Mini is a smaller-sized car compared with the BMW series. The car can cost as much as Rs. 20 lakh.

The company sold 1,387 vehicles in 2007, almost five times the numbers sold a year ago, when all its vehicles were imported.

Since then, led by demand from even smaller but affluent towns such as Ludhiana in Punjab, it has nearly doubled its production capacity to 3,000 units a year, and is targeting sales of 2,000 units this year-almost catching up with Daimler AG's Mercedes-Benz unit which has been present in the country for more than a decade. In March alone, BMW sold 393 units, a quarter of which were sold in New Delhi alone.