German luxury car maker, BMW expects the Indian premium car market to grow at its slowest pace in a decade this year due to various factors affecting the auto market in the country.

Andreas Schaaf, the managing director of BMW India cited reasons like an increase in import duty, rupee depreciation and rising petrol prices to say that the growth might remain below the 10 per cent mark this year.

The premium car market has been growing at a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of above 30 per cent over the last few years. The company sees a severe slowdown in the market and has revised its target for 2013 downwards from 2012 even as the company is planning to launch four to six new products over the next 12 months in the country.

“It has been one of the toughest years for the luxury car market in the country. First a series of petrol price hikes followed by an increase in import duty for cars and then the steep fall in the rupee all this have made it difficult to price our products,” said Schaaf. He was speaking on the sidelines of the an event to launch New 3 series sedan in the country.

Peter Honegg, MD, Mercedes Benz India said that the market has slowed and the company expects a minimal growth from the segment this year in India.