The joint venture BMW Brilliance said on Friday that its sales in China are expected to rise at least 20 percent in 2017. The full-year estimate is based on a 44 percent year-on-year rise in the first two months of 2017, Chairman Wu Xiaoan of Brilliance China Automotive Holdings , told reporters in Hong Kong.
In order to manufacture cars in China, BMW had to form a local joint venture with Brilliance Automotive.
In 2017, premium vehicle sales are predicted to outperform China’s overall auto market, which is expected to slow as a tax cut on small-engined cars is rolled back and the economy continues to slow.
China’s auto market, the world’s largest, is entering a “tiny growth era”, Brilliance Chief Executive Qi Yumin said at the briefing. He estimated the overall market would grow more than 5 percent.
BMW continues to trail Audi in China and has reported sales increase of 11.3 percent in 2016.
[Source: Reuters]
