BMW is partnering up with TVS of India?

[SHIVA]

Before the KTM and Bajaj partnership, with Bajaj currently owning almost half of KTM, there was Honda and Hero of India. Now TVS of India and BMW are in discussion about a partnership. On the car side, Tata of course owns Jaguar, Land and Range Rover. BMW currently has a car plant in Chenai, however, it produces very low volume of BMW cars for India's domestic market. These are basically normal BMW sedans, assembled and sold in India for the Indian market and they avoid tariffs and such.

I don't think BMW can actually sell any of their current offerings at volume in India, but if they are talking to a manufacturer of a low end Indian made bikes such as TVS, maybe they plan to offer either low end scooters just for India or maybe use some of TVS' dealerships in wealthier neighborhoods and mega business centers to push a few hundred of BMW's models.

Now a deal with a maker of low end bikes (which is what sells in the millions in India) is a bit vague for a premium brand such as BMW, because, I would guess, the TVS dealerships and service centers would not be able to meet even 10% of the BMW CI (corporate identity) guidelines. In the US just a BMW CI dealership sign alone can easily cost $50,000 and for BMW the roundel is golden. You can mess with a lot of things at BMW, but the roundel is the holy grail and BMW is extremely protective of it and its image. meaning you'll never see it on a low end vehicle.

The whole thing is very very weird. Maybe BMW is trying to start a new high volume low end brand just for the Indian market called IMW or Indian Motor Werks (a joke) or are planning to make cheap, but high styled 50cc scooters to be sold at select new TVS/BMW dealerships in India. But high cc bikes simply do not sell in India in high volume.