BMW China news

[CCF mod]

Brilliance BMW to build second plant later this year.

May 15, 2008 - BMW and its Chinese partner Brilliance have decided to build the second plant of their joint venture (JV) later this year. The new facility, with an annual capacity of 100,000 units, will produce the newly launched BMW 1 series as well as the BMW 2 and 3 series currently made in the JV. The new plant located in Dadong district of northeast China's Shenyang city is expected to start operation at the end of 2009.

The construction of Brilliance BMW's second plant means that more BMW cars will be locally made for the Chinese market and more BMW auto-making technologies will be introduced into China. Earlier last year, The German carmaker worried that the expansion of the JV's capacity might exceed the market demands for its products, but Brilliance insisted that their sales would grow and a new plant should be built. And last month BMW finally agreed to this expansion project because more than 50,000 BMW vehicles were sold in China in 2007, up 40% year on year (y/y), and BMW's China sales grew further in the first quarter this year.

BMW expects to achieve double-digit sales growth in China in 2008 for both its BMW and Mini vehicles. The German automaker also plans to raise the annual capacity at the current plant in Shenyang by about 45% to about 41,000 units as it looks to 'become the most successful premium car company in China,' said Ian Robertson, member of BMW's board of management for sales and marketing, at the recent Beijing Auto Show. The second plant will greatly expand the JV's capacity to over 140,000 units in 2010.

The German automaker produces BMW 3 and 5 series cars at the Shenyang plant with its local partner Brilliance China. The first quarter sales of BMW vehicles in China rose by 40% from a year earlier to almost 14,000 units while Mini sales increased 112% to about 700 units.

BMW also announced the launch of its BMW 1 series in China last month. The automaker will sell the 120i and 130i versions of the compact car in China. The second plant of Brilliance BMW will locally produce the BMW 1 series as well for the growing Chinese market.

source: Gasgoo.com

[mememe]

BMW Brilliance starts construction of 2nd plant

November 26, 2008
Shanghai, November 26 (Gasgoo.com) BMW Brilliance Automotive Ltd, German luxury carmaker BMW's joint venture with Brilliance China Auto, has started construction of its second plant at the northeastern Chinese city of Shenyang, the Xinhua news agency reported today.

The new plant is expected to double BMW Brilliance's annual production capacity from the existing 40,000 cars to 80,000 units after the new facility starts operation by the end of 2009.

Analysts say that despite the financial crisis in the global market, China has much more room for development than the mature markets in North America and Europe, and BMW Brilliance is less affected by rising fuel prices than makers of cheaper cars as its customers are better off.

Munich-based BMW's China sales rose 30% in the first three quarters of this year to 47,342 cars, which include 25,026 units of BMW 3- and 5-series built by its Chinese ventures. Sales of BMW jumped 42% in China last year.

http://www.gasgoo.com/auto-news/1008...2nd-plant.html

[mikle51]

Just weeks after Cerberus’ Chrysler takeover, the auto rumor mill is swirling again, with a Swedish newspaper reporting today that the home of the Ultimate Driving Machine could swallow up Ford’s division for the ultimate safety vehicle. That’s right, BMW has apparently been looking into buying Volvo off of struggling

[mememe]

BMW has followed Audi and Mercedes to become the "official car" in China. BMW cars are on the government's purchase list for 2009-2010.

But unlike the quiet entry made by Audis and Mercedeses, BMWs have kicked up a minor storm, especially on the Internet.

Chinese-language search engine Baidu.com on Friday got about 150,000 entries on the "BMW procurement", with many of them opposing their use by the government.

"All government officials should drive Chinese brand cars," said a netizen on Sina.com, one of China's largest news portals. The anonymous netizen (as most Chinese netizens are) from Hefei, Anhui province, said: "Given the global financial crisis, China should encourage the use of non-luxurious domestic auto brands."

More than 600 messages followed the entry within 10 hours, and most of them were angry with the government for using BMW cars.

"Why not ride the made-in-China Red Flag car that Chairman Mao used to use? That's a high-end sedan, too," said a netizen from Beijing. "Chinese should be proud of their home brands such as Red Flag."

Why is BMW evoking such a strong reaction? Hui Yumei, auto market researcher with Sinotrust Co, said Chinese consumers see the three German cars differently. Audi has a solemn image and has long been a popular official car brand, while Mercedes has always been considered a classic car.

"But BMW," she said, "is a brand that Chinese often associate with the nouveau riche. It does not fit into the simple and prudent style the government is supposed to follow."

"Personally though, I am not against using BMWs as official cars," she said.

Cheng Yuan, senior auto analyst with Chinese-language newspaper Economic Daily, agreed with Hui. "The decision can help the development of China's auto industry because BMW models made in this country are on the government purchase list."

Audis account for the lion's share of the official cars because they were the first luxury cars to be assembled at home way back in 1988. The government today buys almost 20 percent of all Audi cars sold in the country. In fact, China is the only market where Audi sells more than its German rivals BMW and Mercedes.

According to China National Radio, the government spent 80 billion yuan on buying vehicles last year. "Nobody can ignore such a big cake," Cheng said.

He agreed with the netizens that the "government should encourage the use of homemade vehicles". But he said there are no domestic brands that could compete with foreign ones in the premium car segment.

The segment of cars with 2.0- to 3.0-liter engines and priced below 450,000 yuan isdominated by the joint ventures such as Volkswagen, Daimler Benz and BMW.

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2...nt_8280484.htm

[KiwiGuy]

We had same problem when our government bought a fleet of BMW's. The again, if they are made in China, then why not? I mean it would be better for Chinese government to drive something that isn't a blatant copy.
Why not use Brilliance cars for lesser officials as both are made by same company (Joint Venture)?

[nzsaab]

I long for the day that the Chinese government ads Saab to the list! The 2010 9-5 is apparently the pot of gold for Saab.

[CCF mod]

BMW to expand China venture with Brilliance Auto

German luxury car manufacturer BMW announced this morning that it plans to open its second assembly plant in Shenyang, China, in a joint-venture with local automaker Brilliance Automotive.

The plant will more than double BMW’s Chinese assembly capacity, which is currently at about 41,000 annually.

“Our plant has reached its capacity limit, so we are now taking the next step,” said BMW Chief Financial Officer Friedrich Eichiner in a prepared statement. “The decision to build a second plant demonstrates that we are investing in our future in China and that we intend to participate in the strong growth in the Chinese market.”

BMW is hoping to further tap into the lucrative Chinese market by producing more vehicles domestically. The automaker’s sales are up 37 percent in China so far this year, to 71,952 cars in the first 10 months.

Construction on the new plant will break ground next year and the automaker hopes to have it up and running by early 2012. BMW plans to hire about 1,000 more workers to help assemble its vehicles. Currently, it produces its 3-Series and 5-Series models in China, although it’s unclear if production of those will simply be expanded or if BMW will begin building a third variant.

BMW AG, the world's largest maker of luxury cars, signed an agreement today with its Chinese partner Brilliance Auto to invest $735 million to expand the capacity of their joint venture in China, Reuters reported.

The new investment includes expanding an existing plant in the northeastern Chinese city of Shenyang, where Brilliance and BMW now manufacture BMW 3-series and 5-series sedans. Annual output at the current plant will increase to 75,000 units by the end of next year, from current 30,000 units.

Construction on a second plant is scheduled to start in 2010 with a planned annual production capacity of 100,000 units, according to Qi Yumin, the chairman of Brilliance Group.

"Today, China is a global driver of growth in the automotive market," said Friedrich Eichiner, a board member of the BMW Group. "China will play a major role in the global automotive business, in the development of future technologies."

BMW sold 9,558 cars of its BMW and Mini brands in China in October, up 81% from a year earlier, bringing sales in the first ten months up 36.7% to 71,952 units. China has overtaken Italy as the fourth-biggest market for BMW after Germany, the U.S. and the UK.

China, now becoming the world's largest auto market, has been a bright spot for the global auto industry this year, thanks to a raft of government incentives, including cuts in sales taxes on small cars and subsidies for fuel-efficient vehicles.

http://www.leftlanenews.com/brillian...-in-china.html
http://autonews.gasgoo.com/auto-news...ance-Auto.html

[CCF mod]

This year, BMW celebrates the 25th anniversary of its M3. With this occasion, BMW released a series of limited edition models of the popular M3 Coupe. One of them is the M3 Tiger Edition, a model available exclusively for the Chinese market.

Commemorating the current Year of the Tiger in China, the new limited edition M3 features the Fire Orange Metallic paintwork already seen on the M3 GTS model.

In addition to the unique exterior with numerous black accents, the M3 Tiger sports 359M styling wheels in 19 inches, black painted as the air intakes on the bonnet. Other blacked out parts include the kidney grills and chrome exhaust tips.

Inside, the limited M3 Tiger will feature Novilla black leather with contrasting orange stitching and the headrests will be branded with an unique tiger head logo. To differentiate even further from other limited edition M3s, the door sill plates will also illustrate a Tiger Edition Logo in fire orange metallic color.

The production of the M3 Tiger will be limited to 250 units.






Two live photos:
http://www.bmwblog.com/2010/08/12/bm...ition-spotted/

[Rally Red Lancer GTS]

Not bad for a BMW.

[CCF mod]

Pictures from launching ceremony:
http://bbs.che168.com/thread-1416094-1-1.html







http://db.auto.sohu.com/photo/model_1705.html