German luxury car maker BMW has scrapped plans to launch premium small car ‘Mini’ in India by 2009, citing feasibility reasons.
“Last week, we have taken a decision to scrap plans to bring Mini by 2009. After the feasibility study we had undertaken, it is clear to us that it will not be viable to bring the car that soon,” BMW India India President Peter Kronschnabl said.
He, however, reiterated that the company has not completely abandoned the plan to bring Mini in India.
“Probably in another one to one-and-a-half years, we will have a re-look at the issue and assess the market again,” he further said.
BMW had initially planned to bring out Mini by 2009, before which it had commissioned a market research to see the viability of launching the product in the country.
“What we have found is that Mini being a small car coming at a high price of approximately above Rs 20 lakh, it is not going to be a viable option at the moment,” Mr Kronschnabl said.