BMW chalked up record sales in Asia in 2005
BMW AG (BMW) has, for the first time, achieved an annual sales of over 100,000 vehicles in Asia last year.
Its chairman Dr Helmut Panke said the retail figures of its three marques – BMW, MINI and Rolls-Royce – had increased by 17% to 111,500 units last year compared with 95,482 units in 2004.
With the latest results, BMW has managed to leave its main competitors in the Asian market even further behind, Panke said at its annual press conference on its Asian sales performance in Singapore on Feb 16.
"The BMW group plans to increase its retail volume again in 2006. And we are affirming the goal we announced two years ago: By 2008, we will sell 150,000 automobiles in Asia and a total of 1.4 million worldwide,” he said.
Panke added that BMW intends to make Asia one of its top four sales regions.
Currently, the Asian market makes up about 10% of BMW's global sales, which amounted to 1.328 million units last year.
Panke said BMW achieved sterling results in Malaysia last year.
“We had our best year ever in Malaysia, even compared to the time before the 1997 Asian financial crisis,” he said.
BMW's sales in Malaysia rose at least 24% to 3,213 units in 2005 compared with 2,574 units in the previous year.
Sales of the BMW marque surged 25% to 3,016 units in 2005 from 2,410 units in 2004 while sales of MINI cars rose 20% to 197 units last year.
Panke said since the launch of the new BMW 3 Series in May, the group has claimed leadership in the middle premium segment.
Some 1,300 units of the previous and new BMW 3 Series were sold last year.
The high demand has prompted it to start assembling the new 3 Series at a plant in Shah Alam, Selangor next month.
With the availability of locally assembled BMW 3 Series and the strong demand for the BMW 5 Series, Panke is confident that BMW’s sales in Malaysia will continue to achieve double-digit annual growth.
Reviewing its performance in Asia last year, Panke said sales of the BMW marque rose 18% to 95,116 units while MINI continued its success story with sales of 16,353 cars, up 10.7% from the year before.
Meanwhile, Rolls Royce delivered 102 Phantoms to Asian customers last year against 106 in 2004.
Singapore was BMW’s largest market in Southeast Asia in 2005, with total sales of 3,624 units, followed by Malaysia.
Japan remained its top market in Asia, with sales up 13.5% to 58,767 units last year.
This is followed by China, where BMW’s sales rose 37% to 31,600 units, while sales in South Korea inched up 1.9% to 5,912 units.
Sales in Thailand, however, dropped 24% to 2,852 units from 3,771 in 2004. Sales also declined in Indonesia and the Philippines.
Commenting on products in the pipeline, Panke said BMW plans to have a dozen models in its portfolio by 2008, including the launch of two completely new BMW model series.
One new series will have a “space-functional concept,” which brings together the key elements of individual space, dynamic performance and elegant sporty looks associated with the BMW brand, while the other new series will see BMW define a new segment, Panke said.
"(The latter) will combine the characteristics of a sports car, coupe and Sports Activity Vehicle in a form never seen before, with raised seat positions and high clearance, in the form of a four-seater coupe on all-wheel drive," he added.
The group also plans to launch the new Z4 Coupe and Z4 M Coupe in summer. The cars made their world premiere at the Detroit Motor Show last month.