BMW Launches 530i Sport In India: Check Its Prices And Features

German luxury automaker BMW launched its sedan 530i Sport in the Indian market priced at Rs 55.4 lakh (ex-showroom). The BMW 530i Sport is powered by a 2-litre BS-VI compliant four-cylinder petrol engine with a power of 252 hp mated to an 8-speed automatic transmission.

The car can accelerate from 0-100 km/hr in just 6.1 seconds. The model is locally produced at BMW Group Plant in Chennai, the company said in a statement. The car comes with new technologies such as BMW display key that allows drivers to keep in contact with their car round the clock and BMW gesture control, which recognises six pre-defined hand movements for control of a number of functions, it added.

Besides, it also features parking assistant that makes parking and maneuvering easier with the help of rear view camera and park distance control, among other features.

BMW also aims to cut the amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) emitted by its cars sold in the Europeon nations in 2020 by 20 percent.The pledge comes as new European Union regulations bite this year, requiring carmakers to sharply reduce fleet-wide emissions on pain of massive fines.

“We will achieve an improvement of 20 percent in Europe this year alone” compared with 2019, CEO Oliver Zipse said during a speech in western German city Bochum. Manufacturers and experts agree that sales of battery-electric and hybrid cars must rise massively if companies are to squeeze CO2 output below the threshold of 95 grammes per kilometre on average.

In 2018, new BMWs sold averaged 128 grammes per kilometre. The firm only forecast a “slight decrease” last year and has not yet published final figures for 2019. Slightly more generous limits for heavier cars could work in favour of the carmaker, which tends to offer larger vehicles.

Ola Kallenius, chief executive of Mercedes-Benz parent Daimler, said Tuesday the group’s adjusted per-kilometre CO2 target was slightly “north of 100 grammes”. But the longtime BMW rival is “not guaranteed” to meet even that laxer limit this year or next, he added. By contrast, Zipse said “it’s clear for the BMW group that we will achieve our goals.”

One-third of the carbon reductions would come from less-polluting combustion engines, and two-thirds from electric-powered vehicles, he added.

Zipse, who took over BMW from Harald Krueger in July, aims to lift EU electric and hybrid sales from 8.6 percent in 2019 to 25 percent next year, one-third in 2025 and 50 percent in 2030. Like other German manufacturers, the Munich-based company plans a slew of such models in the coming years.

But car companies must battle high upfront research and development costs at the same time as a wider economic slowdown, with many resorting to job cuts to slash costs.

(With inputs from PTI)