Mumbai/Singapore, Feb. 8: Strap your seatbelts for a titanic battle between the teutonic twins: the Beemer and the Merc.

BMW plans to roll out its BMW 3 series cars from its Chennai plant by the end of March and its 5 series cars by May. The launch of the India-made Beemers will put pressure on DaimlerChrysler India, which has just introduced its latest version of the E-class cars and has signed an agreement with Maharashtra for a new plant near Pune.

Michael Ganal, a member of the management board at BMW AG, said in Singapore today that the Chennai plant would be the fifth BMW car production facility in Asia.

The company is also planning to introduce its popular SUVs, the X3 and X5, premium luxury cars in the 6 and 7 series, and sports vehicles under the M series as completely built units (CBUs) in India.

“We expect to bring the X3 and X5 series in India soon. The X3 is in the homologation stage while the process for X5 will start soon,” BMW India president Peter Kronschnabl said.

He said the X3 was expected to roll out by June while the X5 would be launched in the second half of this year.

The company has priced the 3 series in a range of Rs 26.95 lakh and Rs 32 lakh (ex-showroom). “We are evaluating the price of the 5 series vehicles. It is expected to be sold in a range of Rs 40 lakh to Rs 45 lakh approximately,” Kronschnabl said.

BMW said it sold a record 126,949 vehicles in Asia last year, up 13.8 per cent from 2005, driven by strong demand in China. It plans to sell 150,000 cars by next year.

DaimlerChrysler India, however, isn’t fazed by the challenge to its turf.

Suhas Kadlaskar, director finance and corporate affairs, DaimlerChrysler India, said the company already had a “market edge” in the country.

“We have a good distribution network in the country and are now present in 29 cities. Moreover, we have been growing at a good pace and we are quite optimistic about our prospects here in India,” he said.

Kadlaskar added that during calendar year 2006, the company sold 2,121 cars in India, reflecting a sales growth of 11 per cent over 2005. In 2005, the sales growth over the preceding year was 5.5 per cent. Therefore, the growth has only doubled.