BMW unveils New 3 Series
BMW unveils New 3 Series
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
PT BMW Indonesia has unveiled its fifth generation of the New 3
Series to the press at the Sentul circuit at Bogor on Tuesday, in
a bid to strengthen its market leadership in the medium luxury
class.
"With the New BMW 3 Series, we are once again staking BMW's
worldwide claim to leadership and innovation in the automotive
industry," PT BMW Indonesia president director Josef Honsel said.
The car, which came to Indonesia just a month after its world
debut at the Geneva Motor Show in March, will be available to
customers by the end of May.
The 3 Series itself has existed since 1975 and BMW Group has
delivered almost 10 million units to customers, 30,000 of them to
Indonesians since 1986.
Data from the Association of Indonesian Automotive
Manufacturers (Gaikindo) shows that BMW sold a total of 2,053
units last year, with the 3 Series model comprising 1,319 of this
number.
This year's first quarter Gaikindo data also shows that BMW
managed to sell 250 units of various models.
Its main competitor is the Audi A4 and the Mercedes-Benz C
Class. Gaikindo said Audi sold 30 cars in the first quarter while
Mercedes sold 456 units for all models, excluding commercial
vehicles.
Although Honsel declined to reveal the company's target for
the rest of the year, he believed the new generation car would
"make a significant contribution, as the core model in our
product portfolio, to the ongoing growth of the BMW in
Indonesia".
He said in the early second semester BMW would assemble the
New 3 Series at Astra's PT Tjahja Sakti Motor assembly plant in
Sunter, North Jakarta.
Available in three engine variants -- four-cylinder 2,000-cc
engine, and six-cylinder 2,500cc engine and 3,000cc engine -- the
car is equipped with run-flat tires, in which the car can still
travel 150 kilometers at a maximum speed of 80 kilometers per
hour, aside from other safety features.
The New 3 Series can also be accessorized with iPod and DVD as
optional items.
The new 3 Series will be offered at Rp 540 million (US$56,397)
for the 320i, Rp 659 million for the 325i and Rp 800 million for
the 330i, on-the-road.