BMW Group expands its activities in China

The BMW Group is planning further expansion of its activities in China in the future. “BMW Group vehicles are very popular in China. We anticipate that this growth will continue in the future. Therefore, together with our Joint Venture partner Brilliance we will increase the previously announced investment of 560 million euros in our Chinese facility in Shenyang to around one billion euros,” announced Chairman of the Board of Management of BMW AG, Norbert Reithofer, during the visit of the Party Secretary of the Chinese province of Liaoning, Wang Min, in Munich on Monday.

The additional investment, which will be shared between the two partners, will be used to build a press shop, a paint shop and to expand infrastructure at the new plant in Tiexi in the Shenyang region in preparation for higher production capacities in the future.

The BMW Group announced that it would build a second production plant in China in November 2009. The BMW X1 is slated to be produced at the new plant in the future. Production is scheduled to start in 2012. This will add more than 4,000 new jobs over the coming years, in addition to the roughly 5,000 jobs so far created in Shenyang. The planned production capacity will increase to more than 100,000 vehicles per year at the existing Da Dong facility and, over the medium term, to 200,000 at the new plant in Tiexi. Over the long term, the two plants will have the combined potential for more than 300,000 vehicles per year – depending on market trends.

The BMW Group has been producing BMW 3 Series and 5 Series models in Shenyang with its joint venture partner, Brilliance, since 2003. China has since become the BMW Group’s third-largest market worldwide. The company sold 167,116 vehicles in China during the past financial year – an increase of 84%.

In the first four months of 2011, deliveries in China rose by 70.1% to 79,306 automobiles.

Source: BMW