BMW Group India President and CEO Hardeep Singh BrarThe ongoing conflict in West Asia is helping boost demand for luxury electric vehicles in India, driven by customer concerns over rising fuel prices, BMW Group India President and CEO Hardeep Singh Brar said on Wednesday.
The German luxury carmaker has increased its electric vehicle penetration to 26 per cent of its overall sales in the first quarter of 2026, compared to 21 per cent in the year-ago period, Brar told PTI.
BMW Group India posted its highest-ever Q1 sales with 4,567 units in the first quarter of 2026, registering a 17 per cent year-on-year growth.
Explaining the drivers behind the strong performance, Brar said apart from new product launches, the ongoing geopolitical and geo-economic developments have kept crude oil prices in focus, leading to heightened consumer sensitivity around fuel costs.
“Because of the ongoing geopolitics and geo-economic issues which are going on globally, there was a lot of discussion on crude oil prices going up… so that brought in a lot of focus on electric vehicles,” he said.
Brar added that BMW’s strong EV portfolio enabled the company to benefit from the shift in sentiment, but improving supply was key to capitalising on demand.
The company had stocked vehicle kits imported from Munich, which typically have a lead time of around six months, allowing it to respond faster to market requirements.
“With the availability of the kits, we could quickly adjust our overall supply chain to bring in more production,” he said.
As a result, BMW Group India recorded an 83 per cent growth in EV sales in Q1 FY26. The company sold 1,185 EVs across BMW and MINI brands during the quarter, and currently has a waiting period of one to two months.
Brar said the crude oil supply concerns triggered by the West Asia conflict could lead to a more sustained shift towards EV adoption, adding that customer interest in EVs is strengthening based on dealer-level data.
“Every fourth car BMW Group India sells today is an EV,” the company said.
