BMW, the German auto major marque, has taken auto dealerships in the country to an entirely different level by launching the country's ever first mobile showroom at Karnal, Haryana. According to BMW officials, the mobile dealership is a try-out prior to the official launch of the company's 15 new centres where new stores will be opened.
Shedding some light on the new innovation, Dr. Andreas Schaaf, President, BMW Group India said, “BMW Mobile Showrooms, as an innovative retail concept, is different from the existing models and aims to reach customers in emerging markets. As a first of its kind initiative, the Mobile Showroom was introduced in Karnal, Haryana till August 18, 2012”.
The President stressed that it was an exercise on BMW's behalf in maintaining the brand's superiority and keeping the company's dealer network at par with the global standards. He emphasised BMW India's regular efforts towards breakthrough ideas and said, “We have been pioneers in bringing luxurious dealerships to India and the BMW Mobile Showroom is a representation of BMW's luxurious dealership experience”.
The BMW Mobile Showroom at Karnal are to be handled by the staff of company's current dealerships. The Karnal showroom has been managed by the experienced and well trained people of Krishna Automobile in Chandigarh.
Recently, Karnal has drawn comparisons with Chandigarh as the new hub for premium luxury cars owing to huge demand for premium brands coming from the city buyers. Expressing his delight on choosing Karnal as the starting point for the first ever mobile showroom, Schaff said, “Karnal is one of the fastest developing cities in Haryana and will play an important role in BMW's market offensive in the northern region. With the BMW Mobile Showroom, we wish to give customers in Karnal an opportunity to experience the BMW brand, test drive vehicles, interact with product experts and avail promotional finance offers from BMW Financial Services.”
A spokesperson of BMW India when questioned on the company's efforts towards gaining a customer foot-hold in India and the new mobile showroom's pretence in the group's accretion plans, answered, “BMW India has 25 sales outlets in the Indian market. By the end of 2012, BMW India will aggressively expand its dealer network by increasing the number of sales outlets to 40 across major metropolitan centres and emerging markets across India. We believe that the next level of growth will come from the tier II and III cities. The BMW Mobile Showrooms is part of our over-arching strategy to strengthen our presence across the emerging markets in India”.
The mobile showroom could be BMW India's efforts towards establishing itself in the previously ignored pockets of the markets and gaining a foothold in the emerging new markets like Karnal, Agra and Dehradun among others. BMW India has also provisioned its customers by providing finance solutions at the mobile showrooms under the name BMW Financial Services.
The brand new concept could also help BMW India in determining new business prospects and in the identification of new potential upcoming markets and establishment of its own sales and service network.
Reportedly, the BMW Mobile showrooms will span seven Indian states comprising Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Jharkhand, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, and Maharsashtra and the locations are identified as Karnal, Agra, Dehradun, Jamshedpur, Patna, Bhopal, and Nashik.
The BMW Mobile showroom features several prominent BMW cars for display and test drives like new luxury sedans BMW 3 Series and BMW 5 Series. Being a rage in Karnal, several BMW Sports Utility Vehicles (SUV) like BMW X1, BMW X3, and BMW X5 were also included in the line up. Reportedly, BMW Mobile Showroom will also highlight its premium imported models available in the country like the 7 and 6 Series along with BMW X6 and BMW Z4 in the mobile showroom.
