BMW: Driving sustainable growth

Customerization

In a pre-survey, 64 percent of BMW clients showed inclination to wait for a customerized model for one or two months.

Seen from the 5 Series Li orders between May and July, over 15 percent of the buyers chose customerization services.

The G clef symbol near the C-column displays this limited edition's special fondness of music. [Photos Provided to China Daily]

"Currently all the 5 Series Li products provide customerization services and we will soon offer the same services on the 3 Series and X1 models," Binsbergen said.

"Now it's the right time for the customerization service to come to the country," he said.

Enhancing customer experience will be a focus of the company's next decade in the country, he said.

If the concept of "customerization service" is to strengthen the tie with existing clients, then another strategy called "Future Retail" is to nurture potential customers by enhancing retail experience "at all touch points" not only in the automotive industry, but over the all value chain, Binsbergen said.

"I believe that the 'Future Retail' program will work excellently in China in the future," he said.

Dealer network

Binsbergen said looking back to his 19 years of experience with BMW, those who are concerned with dealer network building get the most benefits.

He said this is a very important part of his future work in the country, adding that to maintain a good relationship with dealers are essential to achieving sustainable growth.

With competition more acute on the luxury auto market, profits from new car sales have been declining, thus dealers have to turn to other aspects such as after-market service, second-hand car sales, financing and insurance services for a long-term prosperity, he said, adding that these areas have a lot of potential.

In addition, strengthening the foothold in smaller Chinese cities is also vital to BMW's development, as big cities are becoming overload with luxury vehicles while demands in smaller places are still booming.

Now BMW has more than 370 dealers across the country, with over 50 percent in small and mid-sized cities.

The automaker currently has established several city showrooms in some big cities.

Binsbergen said they are considering spreading such services to small and mid-sized cities and are seeking the best locations for customer demands.