BMW Is Betting Big on India, Says Hardeep Singh Brar, President & CEO, BMW Group India | Times Drive

It's a big day for BMW India today, and I've got the big man himself, Mr. Hardeep Singh Varad. Thank you so much for joining us and giving us time for this interview. Thank you, time's right. First question, of course, this is a big moment. This is the flagship car coming to the Indian market, and the big announcement is that it is now going to be localized here. So can you tell us something about that? Yeah, so we are localizing. We have three variants of seven today, one petrol and two electric, and we are localizing two of them in India. Electric, we were already importing, and that becomes local. Seven petrol, we were, in any case, producing locally, and that also gives us the reason to, you know, price it so well that people are loving the price, and we are practically on the verge of getting sold out. Already? Yep. Wow. So if I understand this correctly, the localization strategy, especially in the EV space, starting with the iX1, which has been a massive success, the i5 now, the long wheelbase, and now this one. So this is pretty much spreading across the spectrum. Do you think this is, clearly it's working for you in terms of sales? Absolutely. So this is the third electric vehicle that we have localized, starting with the iX1. Last month, we launched the i5, where again, the response has been fantastic, and then now the i7. So now today, we have 13 cars which we are making in India, out of which three are electric, and there'll be many more in times to come. So sales-wise as well, under your leadership, BMW is ranking up the numbers unlike ever before. Product strategy at one place, and of course, localization is playing a big part. What else do you think has been the contributing factor for this? Yeah, so within product, we talk about electrification and long wheelbase, which has really given a lot of benefit to us, and which is why the brand is growing at a tremendous pace. Besides this, two more things, the brand. You know, our brand today, BMW is the most loved brand in the luxury today, and also our customer experience, we feel is one of the best in the industry. I think these are the two other things, and last but not least, the customer experience in terms of events that we do. You know, as you saw today, we launched the BMW Excellence Club, wherein you have a concierge if you want to go and see Wimbledon, or you want to go and see Cannes Festival, or let's say Monaco Grand Prix. You don't have to do anything, you don't have to search for anything, you just go to our concierge, tell them what you want, and it will be delivered at your doorsteps. And you also take them drifting from time to time. Of course, yeah, and Drift Academy is one of the most sought-after events that we do, and this is what makes BMW so iconic. Now, BMW is known for the sheer driving pleasure, but when it comes to this segment particularly, there's also a balancing act that has to be done for the rear seat experience. How difficult is it to convince a BMW buyer for this segment? Because you have to fight the battle at both fronts. As you know, we've been leading the luxury sedan segment, the top-end luxury sedan segment for the last three years plus. And it didn't happen by chance, it was absolutely designed for it. We are in India, while we are keeping our core DNA of sheer driving pleasure, we are also putting equal emphasis on the rear seat because we know in India, in this category, people like to be driven on the weekdays, but they want to drive themselves on the weekend. And hence, you need to give them best of both worlds, and which is why if you look at the second row of the seven, you will find this 31-inch screen, 8K resolution, and also Baas and Wilkins surround sound system, which gives you a perfect home theater feel, right? And it also has a camera inbuilt where you can make the calls, the video calls that you want to do while you are on the way. So it gives you a feeling of an office or a lounge at home. And that's the beauty of this product and all the cars that we're bringing to India, that there is an equal focus on the second row as well, while the DNA of sheer driving pleasure remains as it is. And talking about the seven series, it's available as an electric, which is now localized. There's of course the ICE model, and there's the M70 version also. How important is it to give a variety of options to your customers? Because this is now happening across the spectrum for BMW buyers. No, no, it's very important. Power trains have become extremely critical that you give them choice. We call it power of choice. And if somebody wants a petrol or an electric, diesel somewhere is going down because there's a lot of negative narrative happening against diesel. While we still have diesel in our cars, in general, the narrative is going down, which is impacting the resale price of the diesel. So we are very much focused on petrol and electric, but keeping very much diesel in portfolio as well. So very important to give the choice to the consumers. And let's talk about the i7 M70, right? In this car, you have choice for 200 colors, right? And also there are 500 different options when you come to a combination of a color, the color of the interior of the car, the color of the trims of the car. I think you can actually customize what you like and not go for the car which is in the stock. So that's the kind of customization options we are giving to our consumers, especially absolutely at the top end. And there's still some time left. BMW usually is very active in terms of bringing new cars and variants to the market. Any insight on what we can expect for the time to come? We had decided at the beginning of the year that we will launch 25 cars. And out of those, 10 cars were completely brand new. And this is one of those brand new cars. So we launched X1 Petrol, the Mini Countryman C, the i5, now the 7 and the i7, F450GS. So now we have launched 15 cars. And there are 10 more to go. We have still 4 months to go. And you will see a lot of action in the coming months. We'll all be very busy. Absolutely. Globally, there's a lot going on in BMW's plans. There are a lot of new cars coming in the next 2 years. What is India's role in that strategy at the moment? Look, at the moment, India is the fastest growing market for BMW globally. And that's why we were outside of the top 20 markets. We have moved into the top 20 markets now. And the next target is to be in the top 15. And the way we are growing, I think there's not as much growth globally as there is in India. And also bringing notice for BMW Global towards BMW India, which is very good for us. And which is why we have 13 cars which are locally produced. And we're looking forward to many more. Okay. So to bring this to a wrap, I'm going to throw some rapid-fire questions at you about the 7 series. If you were to sum up the i7, the facelifted model that's come out, how would you do that in a sentence? The coolest and the hottest luxury sedan, the top-end luxury sedan in the category. And the i7? The most electric and powerful and luxurious sedan in the category. And finally, the i7 M70? Oh, the pinnacle of luxury and performance. Fantastic. That's why you're the big man. Thank you so much for your time. Thank you, Manav. Pleasure speaking to you. And coming for this talk. Thanks so much. Thank you.