From Left: Karsten Engel, president and CEO of BMW Group Region China, BMW Brilliance Chairman Wu Xiao'an, Friedrich Eichiner, member of the board of management of BMW Group, Qi Yumin, chairman of Brilliance Group, BMW Brilliance's president & CEO Olaf Kastner and BMW Brilliance new branding chief Shao Bin at the unveiling ceremony of the ZINORO brand. Provided to China Daily

BMW released an independent brand owned by a joint venture with a Chinese company when it unveiled the ZINORO nameplate last week in Beijing with partner Brilliance Auto.

The brand name in Chinese is Zhinuo, which means commitment or promise.

The first car carrying the brand will be completely electric.

It will debut in November this year at the Guangzhou auto show and hit the market in the first quarter of next year.

The car is "specially made in China for China", said Friedrich Eichiner, member of the board of management, BMW Group, in a speech at the unveiling ceremony.

The country is on the right track in terms of green autos, but the switch to new technology takes time, he said.

But "I do believe that it will happen faster here in this country than in other parts of the world," he added.

The car will be built in the northeastern city of Shenyang, where the BMW Brilliance joint venture now produces the BMW 3 Series and X1.

Olaf Kastner, president and CEO of the joint venture, said that the ZINORO brand will have a separate distribution channel, and the batteries will be sourced from within China.

"This is another step in our consistent localization strategy", he said.

BMW has been dedicated to bringing alternative-energy vehicles to China, and its joint venture with Brilliance Auto has also been working to this end.

Three years ago, BMW Brilliance started developing a plug-in hybrid 5 Series.

From 2011 to 2012, the German carmaker brought its MINI E to Beijing and Shenzhen for a 10-month road test.

This year, the company will do a similar field test on its ActiveE in China.

In 2014, BMW will also introduce the i3 - an all-electric car under its wholly owned i sub-brand - to China through imports.

Unlike the carmaker's i brand, the Zinoro brand is rooted in China and carries part of the Chinese culture, Eichiner said.

Localization milestone

The latest milestone in BMW's localization drive, the new brand's release coincides with the 10th anniversary of its partnership with Brilliance.

Over the past decade, annual sales of the joint venture have grown from 4,000 units to nearly 150,000 thanks to the country's booming economy as well as BMW's consistent, comprehensive localization strategy here.

The 5 Series sedan it produced at the joint venture plant is a long-wheelbase vehicle that has been specially developed for China.

And the locally produced 3 Series is offered in a standard version and a long-wheelbase version to meet the diverse demand of local customers. BMW is the first and only carmaker in the industry to offer both.

BMW also became the first premium carmaker to locally produce a compact SUV when it started to manufacture the X1 in China last year.

BMW Brilliance now has two vehicle plants in Shenyang - one in the Dadong district and one in Tiexi district.

Their combined production capacity will reach 300,000 units by the end of this year and has a potential to increase to 400,000 units a year depending on market development in the future.

The new Tiexi plant, which will become fully operational this year, is one of BMW's most eco-friendly, advanced and efficient plants in the world.

With a firm and long-term commitment to China, BMW last year started building its latest N20 four-cylinder turbo-charged engine at the joint venture, making the country the only production site of BMW engines outside Europe.

A new engine plant will begin construction this year, and production there is scheduled to start in 2015.

It will also be one of the company's most advanced and eco-friendly plants in the world. All the key components will be produced locally.

By the end of this year, the research and development team at BMW Brilliance will have a workforce made up of 500 elite personnel, most of which will be locals.

The joint venture plans to establish an R&D center in the near future to further improve the competitiveness of the partnership.

Mutual Benefit

At the unveiling ceremony of the ZINORO brand, BMW management board member Eichiner said that the company recently granted a license to Brilliance to assemble its latest four-cylinder turbo engine in its own factory and equip the engine on cars the Chinese company releases under its own brand.

"The BMW Group and Brilliance are further committed to intensifying the exclusive collaboration for mutual benefit," he said.

The deep and strong cooperation between the Chinese and foreign stakeholders at BMW Brilliance sets a good example for the industry, according to some local media reports.

It shows that BMW is working to help the development of the auto industry in China instead of just selling cars here, they said.

BMW has aided Brilliance for many years as the company works to enhance its technology and develop new products, said Qi Yumin, chairman and president of Brilliance.

This support has been crucial in helping the company to develop new engines as well as passenger and commercial vehicles and engine production. It has also been instrumental in other aspects of the company's development, such as strategic corporate planning, quality improvement and business operation, Qi said.

Qi said that the strong boost it has gotten from its foreign partner has "significantly sped up the development of Brilliance's wholly owned brand".

"I would like to thank BMW for the long-term support," he said, adding that Brilliance plans to take a new leap in the next five years and double annual sales revenue to 200 billion yuan.

hantianyang@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 04/17/2013 page7)