BMW eyes 'brilliant' growth in local market

BMW Group has already invested billions and will continue to invest in China, the German car company’s Chief Financial Officer Nicolas Peter says.

The Munich-based car maker announced this month it would extend the contract term of the joint venture BMW Brilliance Automotive in Shenyang, the capital of Liaoning Province, and increase investment in its production capacity expansion.

Meanwhile, the BMW Group will invest more than 3 billion euros (US$3.4 billion) in new and existing plants in Shenyang over the coming years.

In the following three to five years, the total annual production capacity of BMW automobiles at the BBA plants will increase to 650,000 units, creating 5,000 new jobs.

“We are a global company and for many years now, we have successfully followed the strategy of ‘production following the market,’” Peter said in a recent interview.

“Apart from the European Union as a whole, China and the US are our two biggest single markets worldwide and our plants in Shenyang and Spartanburg are cornerstones of our global production network.”

“We have invested billions into both locations in recent years and will continue to invest in them in the future.”

He also noted it was not efficient for a global company to solely build all models “local for local,” but to have a complementary network supplying several markets and regions with certain models.

BMW highly appreciates China’s central and local governments’ resolution to set a new equity structure, he said.

A press release posted on BMW Group’s website says the company intends to increase its stake in BBA from 50 percent to 75 percent. The move is subject to regulatory approval.