In the competition of the luxury car market, BMW has tasted the sweetness of in-depth localization development, and now, they plan to upgrade the company's strategy in China. At the 2022 "New Year Online Annual Meeting", BMW described the new Group strategy with the emotional theme of "Home in China", hoping to align corporate development with China's development goals and accelerate electrification, digitalization and sustainable development.
Dr. Peter, Director of Global Finance at the BMW Group, said: "We believe that China's movements will lead the way in the world. Here is the ideal environment and excellent partner to promote the transformation, and the BMW Group will firmly go with its Chinese counterparts. In 2022, the BMW Group will open three new or upgraded plants in Shenyang and Zhangjiagang, and put into operation the second BMW pure electric vehicle, the Pure Electric 3 Series, in Shenyang, further enhancing China's position as one of the bmw group's three major new energy vehicle production bases in the world. ”
The BMW Group's Strategic Upgrade in China can be described by a string of "simple" numbers: "1" refers to the "China First" principle; "2" refers to the fact that both BMW and MINI brands are rooted in China; "3" refers to the firm transformation along the three directions of electrification, digitalization and sustainability; "4" refers to the four R&D and digital bases in Beijing, Shanghai, Shenyang and Nanjing; and "5" refers to the five BMW pure electric models that will be presented to Chinese customers in 2022; " "2025" represents the "new generation" models that will arrive in 2025; "200 million" and "1.5" represent bmw group carbon reduction targets to 2030 and commitment to the 1.5 degree temperature control target of the Paris Agreement, respectively.
Accelerate the electrification process
BMW plans to accelerate the pace of electrification in China and continue to deepen its "China First" strategy. "China first" means maintaining strategic synergy with the world while maintaining sufficient independence to respond quickly to market changes, especially at the product concept stage, taking into account the expectations of Chinese customers. Obviously, BMW's success in the field of fuel vehicles has verified this idea.
In 2021, the BMW iX3 is expected to sell up to 20,000 units in its first full year of sales. In 2022, the BMW brand will present five pure electric models to Chinese users, including the innovative BMW iX, the innovative BMW i4, and the pure electric BMW 3 Series produced in Shenyang. In addition, a pure electric flagship model will also be unveiled in 2022. By the end of 2023, the BMW Group will offer around 13 pure electric products in the Chinese market.
At the same time, the Group strengthens its partnership with domestic outstanding battery companies, energy companies and high-tech enterprises to jointly develop the upstream and downstream industrial chain of green electric mobility, and enhance its comprehensive strength in electric vehicle research and development, production and service. At present, BMW Brilliance Power Battery Center has completed the second phase of the project, with a cumulative production of more than 100,000 power batteries. By the end of 2021, 360,000 public charging piles will be networked by BMW.
BMW has also continued to upgrade its sales and service network nationwide, with more than 500 people currently certifying their BMW i business. In 2022, BMW will pilot the "BMW i Experience Store" in the city center.
As 2025 approaches, BMW's strategic transformation will also enter an important node. According to the plan, the BMW Group will launch a "new generation" model with a completely redesigned IT and software architecture, a new generation of high-performance electric drive systems and batteries, and a new sustainable concept throughout the entire vehicle life cycle. In the development of the "new generation", the specific needs of the Chinese market will still be placed in the first place. By 2025, a quarter of the BMW Group's sales in the Chinese market will be pure electric vehicles.
Partnering with China to drive digital innovation
In the field of digitalization, the BMW Group's innovations in China cover all related areas such as R&D, production, vehicle intelligence and digital services. At present, the Group has built the largest R&D and digital system outside of Germany in China, with a team of more than 1,650 people, including around 600 software developers.
Among them, the earliest Beijing R&D center was established, mainly responsible for vehicle engineering, testing and certification; the Shanghai R&D center focused on digital products, software development and connections with the local digital ecosystem and innovation circle; Shenyang R&D center focused on local electric vehicle development and domestic model mass production after research and development. In addition, there is a BMW Group DesignWorks design team in Shanghai, always paying attention to the aesthetics and needs of the younger generation of customers.
Currently, BMW has established Lingyue Digital in Beijing to focus on creating seamless customer digital journeys. As of now, the My BMW App, jointly developed by Lingyue and BMW's R&D department, has attracted 3.4 million registered users and more than 1.4 million monthly active users. At the same time, BMW is also promoting the "BMW Network Initiative" to about 600 dealers across the country to optimize the customer's brand experience through hardware and software upgrades and digital transformation. According to reports, more than one-third of dealers have now completed this upgrade.
This year, BMW established a joint venture in Nanjing, BMW ArcherMind Information Technology Co., Ltd., and continued to use China's local software strength to deepen in-vehicle software development. At the same time, the newly established Lingyue Nanjing Branch provides agile and efficient IT R&D and technical solution services for the production and service of BMW operating enterprises in China. Not only that, BMW said that the group has cooperated with more than 80 Chinese technology companies focusing on the digital content of vehicles and machines.
In the field of production, BMW Brilliance's digital factory has been widely used in next-generation production technologies such as big data and artificial intelligence, and has taken the lead in achieving full coverage of 5G networks in the world.
sustainable development
The BMW Group has always adhered to its sustainable development strategy, based on the 1.5-degree temperature control target set out in the Paris Agreement, and announced that by 2030, it will reduce the average life cycle carbon emissions of bicycles by 40% compared with 2019, reducing carbon emissions by 200 million tons. In addition to the well-known electrification strategy, the BMW Group's sustainable strategy also covers carbon reduction throughout the entire life cycle of the vehicle, including supply chain, production, use and recycling.
In China, BMW Brilliance has released its Sustainability Report for eight consecutive years since 2014, exposing its sustainability footprint to the public. In 2021, BMW Brilliance once again ranked first in the "Green Development Index of Automobile Enterprises" and won the honor of "National Green Demonstration Factory" for the fourth consecutive year.
In addition, BMW also fulfills its corporate social responsibility through projects such as "BMW Children's Delight Home" and "BMW Chinese Culture Tour". Recently, BMW's CSR program has added "environmental protection" to the "cultural protection" and "social development" on the basis of "cultural protection" and launched the "BMW Beautiful Home Action". The first phase of the project will take the lead in establishing a public education base for biodiversity conservation in the Liaohekou National Nature Reserve in Liaoning Province, and donate relevant equipment such as monitoring and bird rescue to the protected area to directly help local biodiversity conservation.
BMW's success in the Chinese market demonstrates the importance of deep localization. With the launch of the new "Home in China" strategy, the BMW Group's expansion in China will enter a new stage. For the majority of Chinese car consumers, a BMW that understands China better is undoubtedly something we are happy to see.