Tuesday, December 14, 2021
Production follows demand
BMW rewards China with SUV production
In no other country does BMW sell more cars than in China. This has consequences for production: so that popular models such as the X5 off-road vehicle can be adapted to local requirements, it will be manufactured locally in the future.
The car and motorcycle manufacturer BMW wants to locate more of its car production in the important market of China in the future. In the future, the X5 off-road vehicle will no longer only roll off the assembly line in the USA in Spartanburg (South Carolina), but also in the People’s Republic, as a spokesman for the Munich Dax group confirmed on Monday evening. The SUV models of the X series were previously manufactured without exception in the US plant, but now BMW is also building several of the profitable models in China and, for example, the X3 in South Africa. The X5 so far only came from the USA.
China is the Group’s largest single market, as is the case with the other German car groups Volkswagen (VW) and Daimler. In the first nine months of the year, BMW sold almost 670,000 of a good 1.9 million cars from all of its brands in China – that’s slightly more than every third car. The fact that BMW wanted to have more SUV models manufactured in China had long been an open secret. Production follows demand, said the BMW spokesman.
Elektro-3er also migrates to China
If the company localizes a vehicle version in China, then the group can adapt the model in the country more precisely to the Chinese buyer needs and thus also save any customs barriers between the USA and China, as they played a role especially in the trade dispute from 2018 and on the profits weighed down.
BMW also wants to be the first foreign automaker to take over the majority in the production joint venture with its partner Brilliance in the country from the beginning of 2022. BMW would then control 75 percent of the joint venture and also consolidate the company in its own group figures.
As the “Handelsblatt” continues to write, citing corporate circles, an electric version of the BMW 3 Series is also to be manufactured exclusively in the country. The spokesman did not want to comment on this information with reference to “speculation”. Daimler is now also planning to take over the majority in the Chinese joint venture BBAC, which is operated together with major shareholder BAIC, according to the “Handelsblatt”, citing corporate circles in Stuttgart.