Tesla's entry will help grow EV market in India, not worried about competition: BMW

New Delhi: BMW Group India is unfazed by the prospect of Tesla entering the electric vehicle market here and feels it will help grow the segment, according to its Managing Director and CEO Vikram Pawah.

The group, which sold a total of 1,249 units of electric cars in India across two brands — BMW and MINI — has already sold 646 units in the first quarter of 2025 and is keeping its forecast of 15 per cent of its total sales in India coming from EVs, Pawah told PTI in an interview.

“I think the market should grow. Anytime there’s more competition, we’ve seen that the market grows,” he said when asked how BMW is looking at how the EV market will shape up with Tesla entering India.

When asked about competition from the American electric car maker, Pawah said,”In all the markets in the world, we coexist. We all coexist and you can see last year 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, he asserted.

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

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.

On BMW Group’s EV growth prospects in India, Pawah said at present it accounts for 17 per cent of total sales.

The group had reported a 7 per cent increase in its car sales in India at 3,914 units in the January-March period of 2025.

“Our target was 15 per cent of total sales to come from EVs in 2025 and we will exceed it. If we get to 20 per cent, let’s see but 15 per cent was our target. We are happy with that and we are on track,” Pawah noted.

With BMW slated to launch one of its best selling models, X3 in the second quarter, Pawah said the proportion of internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles is expected to grow and hence the company was setting a target of 15 per cent sales from EVs in 2025.