BMW X5M and X6M priced at Rs 1.5 crore onwards were unveiled on Thursday in India – these are new ultra-high performance sports cars from the M series.

The launch is primarily aimed at cashing in on the booming performance car segment in the country. BMW said it will open six more super luxury sales outlets under the M Studio label next year.

The all-new BMW X5M, sporting a 4.4-litre 8-speed petrol engine, comes at Rs 1.5 crore while the X6M with the same engine specifications costs Rs 1.6 crore, all ex-showroom, India, as these are imported from its Munich plant.

Though these new cars have no direct competition in the domestic market, they will be pitched against Mercedes G 63 AMG, which though is a much higher model (priced at over Rs 2.3 crore) than the BMW ones.

The M series is the performance vehicles range of BMW which mostly sells these models through special outlets called M Studios.

The company has just one such outlet in the country now in Mumbai and it will be adding six more M Studios in Delhi, Chennai, Hyderabad and Bengaluru, among others, in 2016, Philipp von Sahr, BMW Group India President, said here today.

Launching these two super premium sports cars at the Madras Motor Sports Club here, Sahr said these performance cars are available for booking from today.

With these two new launches, the luxury carmaker has so far launched 14 models in the country this year. It will be launching one more before December, Sahr said.

It had lost the number 1 tag to Audi in 2012. The 33,000 units a year luxury car market in the country is dominated by three German companies u2014 Mercedes, Audi and BMW, which along with the Tatas-owned British luxury brand JLR collectively control over 98 per cent of the market.

While Merc took the top spot in FY15 with over 11,000 units, Audi came in at a close second. BMW was a distant third.

In January-September, Merc sold 10,079 units, up 34 per cent over the same period last year, while Audi and BMW numbers are not available.

The X5M and X6M combine the qualities of the 4W drive BMW xDrive range and the performance of the M range, which is inspired by motorsports.

In other words, the X-M range constitutes the new high performance range globally for the 99-year-old BMW group.

“Inspired by motorsport, M is one of the most coveted badges of all and has shaped the history of performance automobiles globally. The BMW X5M and BMW X6M raise the bar for high-performance sports cars with highly emotive design, increased output and outstanding efficiency with breath-taking agility and powerful acceleration (touching 100 km in just 4.2 seconds),” Sahr said.

The X5M is an “unbeatable” combination of flexibility and superior handling while the X6M exudes an “imposing presence” wherever it goes, he added.

These new models are available in seven metallic colours and according to Sahr, these models “unite the best of both worlds, being all-rounders that cope with every challenge due to their distinctive versatility.”

Theses cars come with a new eight-speed M Steptronic transmission and is fitted on the M-twinpower turbocharged V8 petrol engines. They can attain the maximum speed of 250 kmph with an output of 423 kW/575 hp producing a maximum torque of 750 Nm at 2200-5000 rpm and accelerates from 0-100 km/hr in just 4.2 seconds.

On the sales of the i-8, Sahr, while refusing to share the actual numbers, said he is trying to get more units shipped to the country to meet the increasing demand.

The Munich-headquartered Bayerische Motoren Werke AG, or BMW as it is popularly known, is celebrating 100 years next year and is the world’s largest luxury car maker.

The BMW Group has three brands in the country — BMW, Mini and Rolls-Royce and assembles eight models at its Chennai facility which has an annual output of 14,000 units, which it began in march 2007.

The Chennai plant locally produces the BMW 1 Series, the 3 Series, the 3 Series Gran Turismo, the 5 Series, the 7 Series, the X1, the X3 and the X5.

That apart, it sells over a dozen imported units. However, its flagship models include the X1.

Its rival Mercedes assembles seven models at its two Pune facilities which have a combined capacity of 20,000 units a year.

The BMW Group introduced the Mini as a premium small car brand in the country in 2012 and currently, it sells the Mini 3-door, Mini 5-door, Mini Convertible and the Mini Countryman through its four exclusive outlets.