Brilliance EV Concept

BMW is said to be developing a new brand of electric cars exclusive to China, giving into pressure from the Chinese authorities. “It will be a purely Chinese brand. It will have no connection with the BMW brand,” board member Friedrich Eichiner told the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. He further stated that there would be a risk of brand dilution if the BMW moniker was utilized for the proposed vehicle.

Reportedly, BMW has been under pressure from the Chinese authorities to create a new brand for the Chinese market. All Western manufacturers have been told by that they must develop models and more specifically, new brands, for the Chinese market in order to be allowed to build new factories in the country. A primary condition of creating these new brands is that the foreign companies cooperate with a Chinese company.

BMW will work with its Chinese partner Brilliance to create a brand for building “New Energy Vehicles,” which are named in China ‘s latest five year plan as a strategic industry.

It is still unknown how many electric cars BMW will manufacture with Brilliance or the name of the new formed brand, what is certain is that BMW will not be using or sharing the BMWi technologies with the Chinese. BMW does not want to share too much of its intellectual property with other companies, especially in China, known for its knock-offs and copying.

Source:Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung