BMW has been producing BMW 3 Series and 5 Series models for the Chinese market with Brilliance in Shenyang since 2003.
BMW and its communist government required joint venture partner, Brilliance China Automotive Holdings, today opened a second final assembly plant in the district of Tiexi, Shenyang, raising total capacity to China to 200.000 vehicles. This brings the total investment in Chinese locations to around €1.5 billion since 2009, the year the joint venture announced it would build a second plant.
There are also plans to increase total capacity of both plants to 300.000 units per year over the medium term, with the ability to produce up to 400.000 vehicles if needed. China is one of the BMW Group’s top three markets worldwide.
BMW has been producing BMW 3 Series and 5 Series models for the Chinese market with Brilliance in Shenyang since 2003. The opening of the second vehicle plant in China will expand the range of locally produced models to include the BMW X1. Production of the long-wheelbase version of the BMW 3 Series will also begin during the coming weeks.
The two partners have also begun producing 2-liter four-cylinder gasoline engines at a third location in Shenyang. The engine plant has an initial capacity of 200,000 engines, which will increase in line with the expansion of the two automobile plants. The launch of engine production will allow the joint venture’s two production locations in Dadong and Tiexi to be supplied locally.
About Ken Zino
Ken Zino, publisher (kzhw@aol.com), is a versatile auto industry participant with global experience spanning decades in print and broadcast journalism, as well as social media. He has automobile testing, marketing, public relations and communications experience. He is past president of The International Motor Press Assn, the Detroit Press Club, founding member and first President of the Automotive Press Assn. He is a member of APA, IMPA and the Midwest Automotive Press Assn.
Zino is at home on test tracks, knows his way around U.S. Congressional hearing rooms, auto company headquarters, plant floors, as well as industry research and development labs where the real mobility work is done. He can quote from court decisions, refer to instrumented road tests, analyze financial results, and profile executive personalities and corporate cultures.
He also brings an historical perspective while citing their contemporary relevance of the work of legendary auto writers such as Ken Purdy, Jim Dunne or Jerry Flint, or writers such as Red Smith, Mark Twain, Thomas Jefferson – all to bring perspective to a chaotic automotive universe.
Above all, decades after he first drove a car, Zino still revels in the sound of the exhaust as the throttle is blipped and the driver’s rush that occurs when the entry, apex and exit points of a turn are smoothly and swiftly crossed. It’s the beginning of a perfect lap.
AutoInformed has an editorial philosophy that loves transportation machines of all kinds while promoting critical thinking about the future use of cars and trucks.
Zino builds AutoInformed from his background in automotive journalism starting at Hearst Publishing in New York City on Motor and MotorTech Magazines and car testing where he reviewed hundreds of vehicles in his decade-long stint as the Detroit Bureau Chief of Road & Track magazine. Zino has also worked in Europe, and Asia – now the largest automotive market in the world with China at its center.
