BMW has rolled out the 40,000th locally-produced car from its manufacturing plant in Chennai. The milestone was marked by the presence of Philipp von Sahr, president, BMW India and Robert Frittrang, MD, BMW Plant Chennai. The 40,000th car was a 5 Series sedan.

The Chennai plant was inaugurated in 2007, and it now has a capacity to manufacture 11,000 units per year on double shift basis. Currently, it manufactures the BMW 1 Series hatchback, BMW 3 Series sedan, the BMW 3 Series Gran Turismo, the BMW 5 Series sedan, the BMW 7 Series sedan, the BMW X1, BMW X3 and the BMW X5. The plant also manufactures the MINI Countryman; MINI is a wholly-owned subsidiary of BMW Group.

Like most luxury marques, BMW’s focus on localisation is key to keep its costs under check. Locally manufactured vehicles are far more accessible that their fully-imported stablemates, so more number of locally-manufactured models can never be ruled out.