Increasing localized production: Keywords to interpret BMW's development trend in the next 100 years

This year, the BMW Group celebrated its 100th anniversary and launched a new "Number One Strategy". Recently, at the "BMW New Year Media Communication Conference", BMW gave a relatively detailed introduction to its future development trends.

BMW Group started to operate in China in the 1990s and established a joint venture, BMW Brilliance, in 2003. Over the past decade, BMW's development in China has gone through three stages: the initial "start-up period", the subsequent "explosive period", and the current "consolidation period".

Mr. Max Kastner, President and CEO of BMW Group Greater China

In 2016, BMW continued to grow strongly in the Chinese luxury car market. According to Mr. Kastner, President and CEO of BMW Group Greater China, in the first 11 months of this year, BMW delivered 472,700 new BMW and MINI brand vehicles to Chinese customers, an increase of 11% year-on-year. As 2017 is approaching and the next century is about to begin, BMW announced its next development strategy in China. Gasgoo interprets it through the following keywords.

Keyword 1: Mobile travel

As Kang Siyuan emphasized, the current market is changing rapidly, and all participants in the automotive industry are facing disruptive challenges that have not been seen in decades. At a time when the Internet is popular, the automotive industry should also keep up with the pace of the times and innovate.

In 2016, the BMW Group designed a series of unique concept cars that showcased BMW's vision for future mobility. Future mobility models will have the following features: autonomous driving, electric drive, and intelligent connectivity.

In March this year, BMW launched the BMW Connected application system, which can meet the various functions of users' travel needs. In order to meet the preference of young consumers for digital lifestyle habits, Kang Siyuan revealed that the BMW cloud-connected app will be launched in China this month.

In terms of electric vehicles, BMW's layout is a leader in the luxury car sector. In the past three years, BMW Group's global sales of new energy vehicles have exceeded 100,000 units; and the BMW Group hopes to achieve another 100,000 units in sales within the next year. In 2017, BMW will launch 14 new models, and in the next 2-3 years, it will increase the number of domestic models and expand the lineup of new energy models. Currently, BMW has launched 9 new energy models in the Chinese market.

Keyword 2: Sustainable production

Whether from the current development of the automotive industry or environmental needs, "sustainability" is an inevitable strategy.

In fact, when BMW's growth rate in China far exceeded that of other competitors in 2013, BMW's top management had already realized that high-speed growth could not be sustained in the long run. Now that the Chinese market has entered the "normalization" stage, BMW's focus is to maintain "innovation" on the basis of sustainable production.

Dr. Johan Wieland, President and CEO of BMW Brilliance

Dr. Weiland, the newly appointed President and CEO of BMW Brilliance, stressed that "our plant in Shenyang is the most innovative and sustainable plant in China". Data shows that between 2013 and 2015, the average energy consumption of each vehicle produced by BMW Brilliance's Shenyang plants decreased by 19.4%; at the same time, carbon dioxide emissions and volatile organic compound emissions decreased by 20% and 86.4% respectively.

In terms of products, BMW Brilliance topped the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology's average fuel consumption ranking of automakers in 2015 and 2016. Such energy consumption performance is indeed better than other domestic automakers, including ordinary brands.

Keyword 3: Localization

For BMW, localization is the cornerstone of its corporate strategy, which means that BMW Brilliance will introduce more advanced technologies into China. In fact, BMW has been actively practicing its localization corporate strategy at every stage of its development in China.

In terms of product system, since its establishment in 2003, BMW has tailored a series of high-quality products for the Chinese market, such as the BMW 3 Series, 5 Series, 2 Series Touring and X1. In 2017, the fifth domestically produced model of BMW Brilliance, the all-new BMW 1 Series Sports Sedan, will be launched after the Spring Festival. It is another masterpiece tailored for the Chinese market. The award leads BMW into a new stage of localized development.

According to Dr. Weiland, the BMW 5 Series will also be launched in the Chinese market in 2017, and will once again be available in a long wheelbase specifically for the Chinese market. In addition, the new BMW X1 plug-in hybrid and the ZINORO 60H will also be launched soon. Both models can reach a pure electric range of 60 kilometers and have been included in the catalog of new energy vehicles of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.

In terms of factory layout, next year, BMW Brilliance will build another new factory near the existing Dadong factory; in addition, a high-voltage battery production center will soon be put into use in the Shenyang Powertrain Factory, once again verifying BMW's commitment to the field of new energy vehicles and even to promoting electric travel in China.

In terms of network development and after-sales service, BMW's dealer network is based on local conditions and takes "focusing on customer convenience" as its principle. For example, "city express repair shops" are all located in city center areas with convenient transportation, while "town express repair shops" fill in gaps in the market.

Market and environmental changes often usher in a trend of innovative development. BMW is committed to sustainable development under the principle of "innovation" in terms of product system and localization strategy. Industry 4.0, digitalization, intelligent interconnection, and autonomous driving are all trends in the future automotive industry. As 2017 is approaching, we also hope that BMW will continue its previous glory in the next century.

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.