BMW to launch X1 Beggar's Edition in China

The BMW X1 is one of the most important models for the company; this compact crossover makes the luxury badge affordable to many, boosting their sales considerably. Even in India, the X1 sales comprise about 40 per cent of their total sales, giving them the edge to remain the largest luxury carmaker in the country. 

Things are not very different up north, in China. They love to flaunt luxury brands as well and there are many more who can afford to buy them. This also means that quite a few brands have a established base in China and the competition is lot stiffer. The cut price variant is the easiest of getting more customers and increasing – especially when people are just looking for badges and not the features and usability. 

It is then a smart move that BMW plans to launch a cut price variant of one of their cheapest cars, the X1, in market where it is already in demand. However, if the news coming from China are to be believed, this car will be called the “Beggar’s Edition” - something no aspiring luxury buyer will want to associate with. The car will be ‘Qi Gai Ban’, which literally translates to ‘Beggar’s Edition’. Of course, lot of times the literal meaning is quite different after translation, from the contextual meaning in the original language. 

As the name suggests, loads of features have been removed from the X1 to make it a lot cheaper. The buyers will have to live without idrive, headlamp washers, fog-lamps, indicators on ORVM’s, leather seats, GPS/entertainment system and few others. This will result in over Rs 3 lakh price cut in already affordable crossover.

There is a possibility that something similar might be launched in India, especially now that their no.1 spot in India is under threat – after the launch of new Audi A4 and soon to launch X1 competitor, the Q3. Only, hope BMW does not use a similar name for their version here. 

Source:  ChinaCarTimes.com via BitAuto.com