BMW Sales: Creeping Once Again

Anthony Fontanelle
May 8, 2007

The BMW Malaysia Sdn Bhd is confident of having another good year, selling more cars than it did in 2006. “We have started well in 2007 with sales growing 37 percent quarter on quarter to hit 535 units in the first quarter,” said the managing director Wolfgang Schlimme. “We have been growing for the last four years. Overall sales growth since 2003, when we sold 2,176 vehicles, was about 60 percent,” added Schlimme.

Year 2006 was the group's best year ever. The company sold a total of 3,472 vehicles. “We are going in the right direction and setting our priorities in terms of model line-up, availability and pricing. These are the reasons we are different from others. This has led us to continue growing in the past few years against the trend in the auto industry,” noted Schlimme.

This year, BMW has launched a bunch of new models - the 325i Sports, 3 Series Coupe, Z4 M Coupe, X3 and the new MINI. Schlimme said that the pace would continue as the group strongly believed customers should have access to the very latest and best of BMW models as soon as right-hand drive versions became available. He also noted that the new X5 will be launched soon.

The BMW 3 Series is an entry-level luxury car which has started production since May 1975. It was the successor to the 2002 coupe, retaining much of that car's styling while adding a more powerful 2.0 L 110 horsepower engine and other performance enhancements. The model, equipped with cream-of-the-crop BMW auto parts, is the automaker’s best selling automobile and it is the one accounting for about 40 percent of all automobiles sold in 2005.

Schlimme pointed out that BMW was also a pioneer in new technology, having launched an in-built global positioning system and night vision system for its cars. “A key decisive factor for our success here is our dealer network. At the end of the day, it is not our team in Cyberjaya but our service advisers, sales representatives and management of BMW dealers that provide first impressions and create long-lasting customer relationships for us. The biggest sales success for BMW is contributed by our dealers,” he said.

At present, the automaker has 13 dealerships in the country, with another outlet to be opened by year-end in Damansara in the Klang Valley. “Our dealer network is one of our priorities in the day-to-day business. Our dealers are consistently upgrading their existing facilities, capacities and competence for customer convenience,” Schlimme said.

To support its dealers, the German automaker is providing architectural consulting, workshop equipment consulting, communications and marketing as well as the availability of demo cars. “We are in the background, supporting and making the dealers' sales and after sales capabilities as strong, competent and credible as possible. This is how it should be,” Schlimme stressed.

Over the years, the German automaker along with its partners had invested over RM250mil in the country. The aftermath of the said partnership is the three most essential regional facilities in the country. These facilities play an essential role in realizing the company’s goals for the region.

“We are enlarging our training offerings at the centre, which services 14 markets. Our group data centre provides information technology structure support to BMW organizations globally. It also serves the group's worldwide network for specific competences, for example, in the global plant logistics system,” Schlimme said.

The BMW group will also start providing its customers a one-stop sales and financing resource, with the completion of its purchase of SimeLease (M) Sdn Bhd and its subsidiary, SimeCredit (M) Sdn Bhd. The two companies, which will be called BMW Lease (M) Sdn Bhd and BMW Credit (M) Sdn Bhd, will allow the company to promote innovative finance solutions to customers via the BMW global network.

Source:  Amazines.com