Riding the tide of booming luxury car demand in China, BMW reported sales of more than 232,000 vehicles on the mainland last year, a surge of 37.6 percent over 2010.

The record tally, including 217,068 BMWs and 15,518 MINI cars, consolidated China’s position as the carmaker’s third-largest market for a second year after the US and Germany.

BMW last year sold more than 300,000 vehicles in the US and some 297,000 in its home market.

“Based on the current development, if China’s car market keeps performing (strongly), in the medium term it could very well become BMW’s largest market,” said Olaf Kastner, president and CEO of BMW Brilliance Automotive Ltd, the joint venture between the German carmaker and its Chinese partner.

“But do we have to rush? No.”

Kastner noted the importance of balanced development in different regions rather than over-reliance on a single market. “This I believe is the real success story of BMW Group – achieving outstanding results in a balanced way,” he said.

Joint venture success

That balance includes BMW’s China portfolio, a combination of locally produced 3 Series and 5 Series cars and a diverse import lineup including the flagship 7 Series saloon and the X family of SUVs.

“We had another record year (last year) and I must say (it was) particularly successful for the joint venture,” Kastner said.

The partnership with Brilliance Auto produced and sold 94,400 cars last year, a 65.8 percent increase over 2010. Its new long-wheelbase 5 Series contributed about two-thirds of total sales by the joint venture.

Launched in August in 2010, the model tailored to Chinese consumers proved an immediate success. Now it has about 30 percent of the mid-sized premium sedan market, according to Kastner.

And not only China’s market has shown interests in the model. Last December, the joint venture began shipping a few 5 Series cars abroad to emerging markets in Africa and the Middle East to test their potential, making BMW the first premium carmaker to export China-made cars.

“It’s another milestone for a young joint venture,” Kastner said of the partnership established in 2003. “But the local customer comes first.”

The company will limit exports of the model, giving priority to domestic supplies since buyers in China still have to wait two to three months to get their vehicles, he said.

Doubling sales

BMW has been in fast lane over the past few years, with sales more than doubling from about 90,000 in 2009 when Kastner joined the joint venture as chief executive. He remains optimistic about the year ahead.

“BMW and the joint venture are ready to embrace a golden Year of the Dragon,” he said.

There are good reasons for the confident outlook, he said, since the joint venture will mark new highs by opening a new plant, building two new models and launching a new brand.

BMW Brilliance now operates a plant in the northeastern city of Shenyang with the capacity to make about 100,000 vehicles annually. Its new second plant, also in the city, is almost ready to begin production.

Set to open in the first quarter this year, the plant is designed to make 100,000 vehicles yearly with the capacity to double that if needed.

BMW will produce its X1 SUV at the new factory, followed by a new-generation 3 Series model toward the end of the year.

“I am looking forward to a very successful launch of the locally produced X1,” said Kastner, noting that the versatile vehicle is a good fit with Chinese consumers and will offer better pricing than imported models.

Some of the X1 models will be equipped with a locally built four-cylinder turbocharged engine made at a new engine plant in Shenyang scheduled to begin operations later this year. It is the first BMW engine plant in the country.

Kastner is convinced there will be strong demand for the latest-generation 3 Series that will be launched in China in the fourth quarter this year. As with the long-wheelbase 5 Series, it is likely to have a long waiting list, he said.

The good news for Kastner and his team is that even as the current 3 Series nears the end of its lifecycle, it is still in high demand.

“People like our cars, they like the brand,” he said.

BMW Brilliance will also launch a new brand of locally produced new energy vehicles, Kastner said, without giving further information.

China’s market still has great room for growth over the long term, according to Kastner. He noted the country’s luxury car market accounts for only 7 percent of overall sales, while the ratio in the US is 14 percent.

He said the real growth will come in so-called tier three to five cities – smaller, less developed urban areas in China – that the company will initially tap through service outlets.

BMW now has about 290 dealer outlets in China. The network will be further expanded this year in both big and small cities, Kastner said.

Though he declined to give a specific sales forecast for the year, he noted the company “does not like to sell less than the previous year and we do not like to lose market share”.

“Quite the contrary,” he asserted.

Via: ChinaDaily.

Confirmed: there will be an extended BMW 3-series for the Chinese car market. It is called ’3Li’ and will be made by the Brilliance-BMW joint venture. Its wheelbase is about ten centimeters longer than the European 3-series. The 3Li will debut at the Beijing Auto Show in April. On these pics the top-spec BMW 335Li.

335Li, compare with:

European 3-series.

It is also the first time the 335-engine is made in China. The old 335 was only available as an import. BMW will offer the 3Li as 328Li and 335Li.

The standard-wheelbase 3-series will not be made in China. However, the swb-335 and the M3 will be imported for the very sporty buyers.

Loads of room inside for the tired executive. His driver having all the fun.

Luxury everywhere. Loads of leather and wood. Beautiful car, will be expensive.

Via: Autohome.

Here we have a very special car. It loox very much like the last gen BMW 5-series but it is not. It is indeed a Brilliance BS6 with a BMW-ized front. The combination isn’t so strange as it seems, Brilliance and BMW have a joint venture that made this old 5, it makes the new 5 now, and the 3. This automan so didn’t move that far away from home.

The Brilliance-BMW 5-series. The automan really made a match up front, his Brilliance loox remarkably much like the BMW. Good job. He didn’t buy any BMW-badges but a Brilliance-badge it ain’t either, probably something self-designed.

Changes at the back aren’t so notable. We see BMW-esque exhaust pipes but that’s about it. New wing just big enough, self-made logo again. Plate puts this masterpiece, a jewel in the Brilliance-crown, in the great city of Tianjin, Tianjin Municipality. If you live there; look out!

Via: HC360.com.

Extended or not, that is the question. The new BMW 3-series will debut at the Beijing Auto Show in April. Earlier on there were rumors about the possibility of an extended 3L to compete with the China-made Audi A4L. Later on these rumors were denied, but Chinese media now reports there might be an extended 3 after all, to be built alongside the standard car.

This would be a different strategy than Audi’s; the A4L is the only A4 made in China. The short wheelbase version is available as an import but only in top-spec versions such as the A4S and A4RS. For the BMW 3 or/and 3L we have t wait for further news.  The 3-series is made in China by the Brilliance-BMW joint venture.

Via: Autohome.

BMW is set to create a new electric vehicle sub-brand in China, together with local partner Brilliance Jinbei Automobile, according to a report. The creation of the brand is coming about in order to meet China’s joint-venture rules.

“We will have a new brand. It’s a legislative requirement,” BMW’s chief of sales and marketing Ian Robertson told Automotive News Europe, adding that the EVs destined for the Chinese market will utilise some of the electric powertrains that the company is developing.

According to Robertson, China is looking towards JV partnerships such as BMW-Brilliance to establish new EV brands, with an aim for the country to grow its exports.

“The Chinese auto market is the biggest in the world, but what they haven’t really got is an international brand with Chinese origin. I think there will be a requirement of globalisation of a Chinese brand. What’s happening is that we’re all encouraged to have more brands with a new technology element to it. If that technology is proven to be successful, then there’s an opportunity for that brand to grow and prosper,” he said.

No details were forthcoming on the models for China and their powertrains. Earlier in the year, BMW – in collaboration with Brilliance – debuted a concept plug-in hybrid 5-series at Auto Shanghai. The company plans to introduce its i3 EV in 2013 and its i8 plug-in hybrid in 2014 in China.

Via: Paultan.org.

The BMW 3-series is made in China by the Brilliance-BMW joint venture. Production of the new 3 will start early next year. After seeing spy shots of an extended 3-series testing in China it was expected, and kinda confirmed by BMW, that BMW would launch an extended 3-series for China to compete with the Audi A4L. It might be not true after all.

‘Officials’ from Brilliance told Chinese carnews portal Autohome that there will be no extended BMW-3-series for China; the China-made 3 will be the same as the European-made 3. As for why, they said that BMW wanted Chinese car buyers to “experience the fun of handling the new 3 Series”.

Interesting indeed. The prototypes sure existed. Why did BMW suddenly change its mind? Or did it? We’ll keep you posted…

BMW is working on two ‘green-energy’ vehicles for the Chinese market. Both will be made by the Brilliance-BMW joint venture and both will be based on the 5-series.

BMW showed the hybrid as a concept car at the Shanghai Auto Show in April. It has a turbocharged four-cylinder with 218 hp and en electric motor with 95hp. On electric power only it has a range of 75kw, with the range-extender patrol engine the range is 400 km.

We don’t know much yet about the plug-in EV, except that BMW is working on it. The hybrid might hit the market in late 2012 or early 2013, the EV will certainly arrive later.

Via: Autohome.

BMW is testing the new extended BMW 3-series in China, it will be called 3Li and made locally by the Brilliance-BMW joint venture. Wheelbase is extended by some 10 centimeters for more room in the back.

Brilliance-BMW also makes the 5Li, and extended 5-series. The standard wheelbase 5-series is not made in China, the standard 3 won’t be made in China either. Those who for whatever reason really want a short-wheelbase car have to go for an import.

Via: Sohu.com.

BMW will become the first foreign luxury car manufacturer to export China-made cars when it begins shipping locally produced long-wheelbase 5 Series sedans overseas at the end of the year.

The Bavarian carmaker said on the eve of the ongoing Guangzhou auto show that its joint venture in the northeastern city of Shenyang with China’s Brilliance Auto will export the 5 Series Li in December, but it did not specify the destination.

Christoph Stark, president and CEO of BMW Group Region China, said that as a trial effort, the shipments will not have big volume at the outset.

“We will find some markets, maybe in the Middle East, somewhere in Asia, or some other markets that welcome the products where we can test this (export effort).

“The main market of course is here (in China), because we can’t even supply enough here,” he said.

BMW’s new 5 Series sedan has proven “extremely successful” in China, Stark said, after it was launched in August last year. Its share of the mid-sized premium sedan segment has surged to 27 percent, up from 15 percent more than a year ago.

The company currently builds the 3 Series and 5 Series in China. Year-to-date sales by the joint venture have hit 100,000 units.

Combined with imported BMW and MINI vehicles, the automaker has reported sales of 195,868 units in the country in the first 10 months, a 45 percent increase over a year ago.

With full-year sales certain to surpass 200,000-unit benchmark, Stark said in Chinese that the company has now grown from a “junior team” to a “youth team” in China.

In the Fast lane

For the past two years, BMW has been on fast lane in China and seen sales more than double from 900,000 vehicles in 2009. And there is no sign of deceleration, as a new BMW factory will be ready early next year, giving a “fresh push” for automaker to continue full steam in the country.

The company will produce the X1 SUV and the new 3 Series at the new plant in Shenyang. A sample X1 in trial production at the new facility was displayed at the Guangzhou auto show.

At the same time, a new engine plant will be put into operation at the joint venture, the automaker’s fourth engine plant across the globe. The advanced Twin-Power Turbo four-cylinder engine set to be made at the joint venture factory will be equipped in locally built X1 and other models, the company said.

“For us the significance is that it is the first time we will produce engines in China,” Stark said. “And it is the latest, most modern technology we have in the group.”

He also revealed that BMW plans to develop new energy vehicles with its joint venture partner under a new, local brand, but did not provide details.

The automaker launched two new models at the Guangzhou show – the all-new M5 and the 5 Series Touring.

The first BMW station wagon sold in the country, the 5 Series Touring sells for 666,600 yuan and the M5 is priced at 1.86 million yuan.

The company now has more than 200 dealerships in China and is expanding further into smaller cities.

Stark forecast that the luxury market will continue to grow, although not as fast as in previous years.

“From the fundamental point of view, the economy is still strong,” he said, noting that as long as the GDP growth stays above 8 percent, there won’t be a major issue in the auto market.

Via: ChinaDaily.

The China-made BMW X1 is ready for the market. The X1 will be listed in early 2012, debut is expected at the Guangzhou Auto Show near the end of this month. The X1 is made in China by the Brilliance-BMW joint venture that also makes the 3-series and 5-series.

Engine is the 2.0 is three different configurations with 122kw, 150kw and 200kw, mated to a 6-speed or an 8-speed automatic. Price will range from 300.000 to 500.000 yuan.

Via: Sohu.com.