China Daily is reporting that BMW plans on exporting some of its Chinese built cars as a trial in the coming year. The plan is to export products (likely complete knock down kits – or CKD to get around import tariffs) to other developing economies in the Asia or the Mid-east. Currently BMW builds the 3 and 5 Series in China with the X1 to start next year.
One thing they won ‘t be doing yet is exporting these cars to traditional markets. Not yet at least.
First there ‘s the issue of simply meeting demand in China. With sales likely to surpass 200,000, China is quickly becoming one of the premier markets globally for BMW. The second issue with politics and public opinion. Traditional luxury buyers will likely balk at a premium product (especially one known for it ‘s engineering and performance) coming from a developing country such as China.
Source: China Daily