German luxury car maker BMW introduced its cheapest model in India, a new sports utility vehicle, X1 priced at INR 2.2 million to INR 2.99 million EX showroom Delhi. The company will assemble the X1 from its Chennai plant for which it has invested around INR 180 crore.
The vehicle will be available in both petrol and diesel variants. While the petrol option, BMW X1 sDrive 18i, will be available for INR 2.2 million EX showroom all India, the diesel variant will have two options, X1 sDrive 20d, priced at INR 2.39 million and X1 sDrive 20d Exclusive priced at INR 2.99 million EX showroom all India respectively.
The diesel engine gives a power of 177 BHP and torque of 350 Nm from 1750 to 3000 rpm. The petrol engine gives a power of 150 BHP with a torque of 200 Nm at 3600 rpm.
BMW claims that the diesel variant takes 8.3 seconds to attain a speed of 100 kmph whereas the petrol variant takes 10.4 seconds. All variants have six speed automatic gearboxes.
Mr Andreas Schaaf president of BMW India said that "The new BMW 'X1' sets the benchmark by bringing together features of a sports activity vehicle with spontaneous flexibility and outstanding fuel economy.”
With the X1 BMW will open up an entirely new segment for which its competition does not have an answer yet. The compact SUV will not only divert some traffic from its German counterparts but also manage to take on the fight to Toyota Fortuner, Nissan X-Trail, Hyundai Santa Fe and the Mitsubishi Outlander.
source: ET
