BMW AG has announced that it will solidify its foothold in China this year, as efforts to meet domestic orders have been ramped up in making the German company China's most popular vehicle manufacturer.
In the midst of external pressures brought about by a downward trend in China's auto industry, the company rolled out 723,680 BMW and Mini-branded vehicles, an increase of 13.1 percent year-on-year, leading the rankings of premium car makers in China.
So far, this is BMW's most impressive sales performance since the company's 1994 debut launch in China and accounted for about 28 percent of its worldwide profits last year.
BMW Group China president and chief executive officer Jochen Goller stated that getting a good grasp of China's strategic importance and offering products and services that domestic clients want are crucial to its presence in the country.
Goller emphasized that at BMW, "we are convinced that the next coming years will remain a 'decade of China.'"
Goller added that BMW would strengthen its "2+4" China Strategy. The number '2' means BMW and MINI and while '4' represents connected, automated, electrified and service.
The German automaker has promoted Level 3 and 4 autonomous functions in China with local business partners, including Tencent and China Unicom.
BMW's list of "connected users" has breached the 2.3 million mark, while its smart voice control features including the Intelligent Personal Assistant (IPA) and TMall Genie are already available in different series of production versions.
BMW is among the hottest-selling state of the art vehicle auto manufacturers, with more than 50,000 of this type of vehicles already shipped in China. BMW has sold more than 500,000 units globally.
In the last two years, BMW has been making major updates to its fleet of cars to better meet local customers' demands. More than 40 new car models have been launched since 2018.
BMW was given a new €65.00 ($75.58) price target by analysts at Sanford Bernstein and now has a "Neutral Rating" on the stock. The company is set to unveil 17 new models in China this year, and by end of 2020, it will unload six such new versions, including the Chinese-built iX3 sport utility vehicle, which would become the first electrically powered SUV in China, but sold internationally by BMW.
Goller also disclosed that BMW has created a network of over 400 car dealership units that will sell new energy vehicles and a charging network that will comprise 130,000 public poles. The end of the current fiscal year projects these figures projected to reach 250,000, spanning 300 cities across China.
