BMW Is Unfazed By Tesla Entry Into India

BMW India Pvt. Ltd. is unfazed by the prospect of Tesla Inc. entering the world's third largest car marker. Its managing director believes it will only grow the EV segment in India.

"I think the market should grow. Anytime there's more competition, we've seen that the market grows," BMW India MD Vikram Pawah said.

"In all the markets in the world, we (BMW and Tesla) co-exist. We all co-exist and you can see last year's figures worldwide, we were the ones who were growing. We grew in electric sales worldwide. Not many manufacturers can talk about growth in electric vehicles."

In February, Tesla opened recruitments for various roles in India, including business operations analyst and customer support specialist, in what could be a precursor for the company's entry into the country. The company has also identified a showroom space in Mumbai's Bandra Kurla Complex.

In 2024, BMW India sold a total of 1,249 units of electric cars across its two brands—BMW and MINI. In 2025, that's already reached 646 units. Pawah is sticking to forecast of drawing 15% volumes from EVs. In January-March, BMW India grew its sales by 7% year-on-year to 3,914 units.

"Our target was 15% of total sales to come from EVs in 2025 and we will exceed it. If we get to 20%, let's see, but 15% was our target. We are happy with that and we are on track," Pawah said..

With BMW slated to launch one of its best-selling models, the X3 SUV, in the second quarter of 2025. That would increase the proportion of ICE vehicles versus the electric vehicles.

Globally in 2024, BMW Group sold a total of 4,26,594 fully-electric vehicles and achieved BEV- sales growth of 13.5%. Both BMW and MINI brands posted double-digit BEV growth, with sales of 3,68,523 units (11.6%) and 56,181 units (24.3%), respectively.