BMW has pulled forward the launch of the new 5-series (F10) in India by a couple of months. The German car maker will release its latest saloon in the Indian market on April 30th which is just a few months after its international launch in Europe.
The launch of the new 5-series this early comes as a big surprise as the company had first indicated a July-September time frame. With rival Mercedes taking the lead with its fresh E-class and the outgoing 5-series selling with heavy discounts, BMW was keen to bring the new model as quickly as possible. BMW has re-jigged the assembly line of its Chennai plant and shipped knocked down kits in record time, to build the new 5-series ahead of schedule.
It's not clear which versions of the new 5-series will be launched but we expect the 535i and 530d to be the range topping petrol and diesel.
In the first three months of 2010 Mercedes sold 642 E-class’ whilst BMW could manage to move only 305 5-series. But with the all-new 5 series, BMW hopes to win back market share in this segment of the luxury car market.