Kamal Nath (right), minister of road transport and highways, with Hiroshi Nakagawa (centre), MD of Toyota Kirloskar Motors, and Ravi Kant, vice-chairman of Tata Motors, at Siam’s annual convention in New Delhi on Friday. (PTI)

New Delhi, Aug. 28: BMW is set to launch its two-seater convertible roadster Z4 in India in October this year.

“The vehicle will be a brand shaper for us in India, we will launch it in October,” Peter Kronschnabl, president of BMW India, told The Telegraph at Siam’s annual convention here today.

The company is planning to sell 30-40 units of the car per annum, which is expected to be priced between Rs 50 lakh and Rs 60 lakh.

Sporting a 3-litre diesel engine, the new Z4 sports car, launched last December in Europe, now comes with a folding hard roof.

While this has made the car heavier, it has increased its appeal. Performance parameters include a top speed of 250 kph and a 0-100 kph rev-up in 5.8 seconds.

BMW India, the wholly owned subsidiary of Germany’s BMW Group, will launch a petrol variant of its 7-series cars with a six-cylinder engine in September.

“Last year, we sold 2,908 units and this year we are confident of crossing 3,000 on the back of new cars and a robust demand for our products,” Kronschnabl said.

Sales rose 14 per cent during the January-July period.

BMW India has an assembly plant in Chennai, with a capacity of 3,000 units per annum. It rolls out the 3-series and the 5-series from the plant, in which it has invested $30 million.

The company plans to increase its capacity in 2011. BMW’s current portfolio in India comprises cars from the 3 series, 5 series, 6 series, 7 series, X6, X5 and X3.

According to Siam figures, BMW is ahead of its closest competitor Mercedes-Benz India this year.

In the seven months to July, BMW sold 2,008 cars against 1,712 sold by Mercedes. Last year, Mercedes had sold 3,625 units against BMW’s 2,908.

Audi, the third German car maker after Mercedes and BMW to enter India, had sold sold 1,050 cars last year.

Sales of premium cars — defined as models with a minimum ticket price of Rs 25 lakh — braved recession and continued to grow in India during 2008.

Around 7,000-7,500 units were sold last year, which was 70 per cent more than in 2007.