A few months after the global launch, BMW has launched the 3-Series facelift in the Indian market. It gets minor tweaks to the interiors and exteriors along with new variants.
The luxury car battle in India has been very interesting with BMW, Mercedes and Audi fighting fiercely with each other in the past decade. It has been interesting to see the trends as well. Once at the top for multiple years, BMW now sits at the bottom of the pack in terms of sales which are way behind the competition. The company hasn’t done much about it either and is continuing majorly with the same old lineup. However, it has now launched the 3-Series facelift to compete in the highly competitive executive luxury car segment.
Unveiled globally in the month of May 2015, the BMW 3-Series facelift gets minor tweaks to the exteriors and most people might not even notice them. At the front, the redesigned headlamps and a mildly tweaked bumper are the only changes. The new version also gets some tweaks to the LED tail-light and new alloy designs depending on the variant. Speaking of variants, there are four on offer –
- Prestige – Rs. 35.90 lakhs
- Sport Line – Rs. 41.50 lakhs
- Luxury Line – Rs. 41.50 lakhs
- M Sport – Rs. 44.50 lakhs
* all prices ex-showroom, Delhi.
All the variants of the facelifted 3-Series are powered by a 2.0-litre diesel engine producing 190 BHP of power and 400 Nm of torque which is slightly higher than the old model’s 184 BHP and 380 Nm. The 0-100 km/hr timings have changed too and the new version does the sprint in 7.2 seconds, an improvement of 0.4 seconds. Transmitting the power to the rear wheels is the same 8-speed ZF gearbox with all variants except the Prestige variant getting paddle shifters as standard.
With the launch of the facelift, it seems BMW is trying to offer the fully loaded variants to customers in order to ensure they are satisfied. The interiors of the car get minor changes to the materials and new upholstery options are being offered. The M Sport variant comes loaded with optional extras which add to its aesthetics and customers looking for a slightly sportier looking 320d can opt for it. A petrol engine will also be added to the lineup by the end of this year.
