German luxury carmaker BMW has commenced the production of the MINI models at its production plant in Chennai, India.
The carmaker expects that the production will help meeting the increasing demand for MINI cars in the Indian market.
According to the company, the Indian car market is expected to experience high growth rates over the medium and long term.
MINI Cooper D Countryman and the MINI One Countryman will be the first models to be manufactured by the BMW's plant in Chennai, which is claimed to meet the same stringent quality standards applied to all production of its models.
The Chennai production plant, constructed in March 2007, occupies a production area of about 13,000sqm and currently produces the BMW 3 Series, BMW 5 Series, BMW X1 and BMW X3 models.
In 2012, MINI reported a 5.8% increase in the sales to 301, 526 vehicles across the world that includes strong contribution of the American and Asian continents.
