Despite operating at just a third of the capacity of the Araquari, Santa Catarina state, assembly plant, BMW has decided to start building the X4 crossover locally in the second half of this year.

This model is derived from the 3 Series already assembled here so the undisclosed cost of putting the additional model into production should be relatively low. The X1, X3, 1 Series and Mini Countryman also share the Brazilian assembly line.

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The luxury brands segment in Brazil grew nearly 15% over 2014 in 2015 amid intensified competition between Audi, BMW and Mercedes-Benz. Audi, besides its strong marketing, has adopted an overwhelmingly competitive pricing policy and become the best-seller. Market share was about equal among the three German brands with a slight Mercedes-Benz advantage, runner-up was Audi (which started local assembly of the A3 saloon here two months ago) followed by BMW.

The Bavarian brand has decided to oust its current president, Arturo Piñeiro, as of next month. He will be transferred to BMW Manhattan and Portuguese Helder Boavida, currently general manager in Mexico, will replace him. Refraining from citing Audi, Piñeiro complained of the artificially low pricing pitched in the country last year and said all players will be forced to raise their prices in 2016.

He even predicted the luxury segment is likely to face zero growth in 2016 or even decline. And the 100,000-unit forecast, spread amid the three premium German brands in 2018, will not be reached.

In 2015 the three sold about 50,000 vehicles in total.

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