BMW to make more vehicles in China for global market: executive
China’s opening-up is an important policy and German carmaker BMW Group will make the best use of it, a company executive told the Xinhua News Agency in an exclusive interview in Munich, Germany.
“If you look at those big collaboration projects with Chinese companies like Great Wall, Baidu – which we announced in Berlin in July – those all demonstrate that we are keen on making use of all the options of collaboration and engagement in China,” said Thomas Becker, vice president of governmental affairs with BMW Group.
Becker said that the original objective was producing internal-combustion cars in and for China, when the German company first entered the nation in 1994.
“However, when you look at our industry and where it’s going, it’s all fundamentally changed,” Becker emphasized, adding that BMW is investing heavily in electrification.
China is the market where this development will be among the fastest in the world, he said.
BMW facilities in China used to make cars only for the Chinese market. But now the company is increasingly seeking to make those production facilities an integrated part of its global network that also supplies other markets.
According to Becker, the BMW X3 electric vehicle is going to be made in China not only for Chinese customers but also for export markets.
“Therefore, we think that the Chinese government is absolutely right to redefine the overall rules of industrial policy in general and the automotive policy specifically,” Becker continued.
China announced it would remove foreign ownership limits for special vehicles and new energy vehicle manufacturing starting on July 28 this year, while limits for broader passenger car manufacturing will be lifted by 2022.
“Opening up to new shareholder ratios allows more flexibility in the way Chinese companies work with foreign manufacturers, and it allows them to have tailor-made arrangements, not only on shareholder ratios, but also on how to produce, how to export and how to work together. It is absolutely right and we are strongly supporting this,” Becker said.
Asked if BMW will increase its stake in BMW Brilliance Automotive to at least 75 percent from its current 50 percent holding, Becker said he couldn’t comment at the moment.
“For us, it is clearly an important discussion and it needs to be done carefully. We move forward carefully and seriously,” Becker said.
“The change in the political framework is an important signal for opening up. For us, it means lots of opportunities that we want to make use of,” he concluded.