BMW BLOG

BMW becomes a Tier One Partner and exclusive automotive sponsor of the 2012 Games, 4000 low-carbon vehicles to be provided.

London. Lord Sebastian Coe, chairman of the London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games (LOCOG) has today announced that BMW has become the Automotive Partner of London 2012. BMW will provide the 4000 or so vehicles which are required at the Games to transport athletes, technical officials, media, LOCOG operational teams, national Olympic Committees, International Sports Federations, the IOC and marketing partners.

In addition, BMW becomes a Sustainability Partner supporting London 2012’s commitment to deliver its ‘low carbon’ and ‘healthy living’ Games.

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At a ceremony held in Beijing on Thursday, the BMW Group and Brilliance Automotive Holdings Limited signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to build a second production plant at the Shenyang site. The investment volume for the new plant amounts to 560 million euros. Construction work is scheduled to begin in 2010, with the start of production slated for early 2012.

“Brilliance Automotive Holdings Limited is a reliable joint venture partner with whom we have already worked successfully for more than six years.  Our plant has reached its capacity limit – so we are now taking the next step. The decision to build a second plant demonstrates that we are investing in our future in China and that we intend to participate in the strong growth in the Chinese market,”  stated Friedrich Eichiner, member of the Board of Management of BMW AG, responsible for finance and vice chairman of BMW Brilliance Automotive (BBA). “It is also an important strategic step towards reducing our exposure to currency fluctuations,” Eichiner added.

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Fleet News UK has just published their latest vehicle reliability survey and not to our surprise, BMW Group is very well represented. Despite falling one spot behind the Honda Civic, BMW occupies three of the ten spots in this survey, same as the Japanese automaker.

The survey, which quizzed the country’s largest fleet operators who between them run more than a million vehicles, saw the popular and high-seller 3 Series taking the second position, followed closely by the 5 Series (5th) and the MINI (8th).

The UK’s 50 largest fleet companies were asked to rate their most reliable vehicles and manufacturers among their combined fleet of 840,000 cars and 183,000 light commercials. While Honda took the crown in the Top 10 Most Reliable Cars, BMW Group wins in the Top 10 Most Reliable Car Manufacturers, a great recognition of their efforts to produce highly reliable cars, but still fun to drive.

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OXFORD, UNITED KINGDOM – November 6, 2009: For the second year in a row the BMW Group has cut its average CO2 emissions per car by more than any other automotive manufacturer. According to an independent report published by the European Federation for Transport and Environment, the average reduction across the industry was 3.3 per cent, while BMW Group achieved 10.2 per cent.

BMW Group’s success in reducing CO2 is thanks to its EfficientDynamics programme which incorporates a wide variety of fuel-saving and emissions-reducing measures across the whole vehicle range as standard. Many of its competitors sell fuel efficiency packages as options.

EfficientDynamics technology includes Auto Start-Stop, Brake Energy Regeneration and Active Aerodynamics, amongst a wide range of other features. This technology gives BMW and MINI owners outstanding fuel economy and low emissions without forsaking driving enjoyment. The result is the reduction of BMW Group’s average vehicle emissions in 2008 to 154g/km, down 10.2 per cent from 172g/km in 2007. With the introduction of further efficient BMWs in 2009 this figure is expected to drop again.

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Despite the continuing adverse economic climate, the BMW Group once again recorded positive earnings for the third quarter 2009. “The measures we have put in place to increase efficiency and reduce costs are taking effect“, stated Norbert Reithofer, Chairman of the Board of Management of BMW AG on Tuesday in Munich. As a result, earnings for the full year 2009 are likely to be positive: “We are aiming to achieve positive group earnings for the current financial year“, continued Reithofer. This prediction is made on the assumption that the global economy and conditions on the car markets do not worsen in the period up to the year-end.

Third-quarter revenues decreased to euro 11,759 million (third quarter 2008: euro 12,588 million). The Group reports a profit before financial result (EBIT) of euro 55 million (third quarter 2008: euro 387 million) and a profit before tax of euro 126 million (third quarter 2008: euro 279 million). Revenues for the nine-month period decreased to euro 36,239 million (first nine months 2008: euro 40,425 million). EBIT amounted to euro 169 million (first nine months 2008: euro 1,639 million) and the profit before tax to euro 79 million (first nine months 2008: euro 1,522 million). The profit after tax was euro 47 million (first nine months 2008: euro 1,292 million). Read the rest of this entry »

First news around a deeper collaboration between BMW PSA Group surfaced back in February when a BMW delegation has met with representatives of the French government to talk about a closer cooperation between the Munich based automaker and PSA.

BMW already cooperates with the French company PSA in developing engines for the MINIs, the 1.4-liter and 1.6-liter engines which are used in the Peugeot 207 and 308 and in the Citroen C4 and C4 Picasso.

Quoting PSA CEO, Phillipe Varin, AutoNews reports PSA Group aims to deepen ties with BMW Group. Varin said he is talking with BMW CEO Norbert Reithofer about cooperation in areas such as purchasing and components including transmissions and climate control systems.

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A very interesting article just popped up on BusinessWeek and judging by the reaction around the web, BMW AG scores some PR points.

“BMW (BMWG.DE) became the first major blue chip German company to link the bonuses of its top managers to those of its assembly line workers, amid growing global criticism of executive compensation. The move sends a strong message to other firms also examining their compensation practices, as the world’s largest banks in particular have come under fire from politicians, shareholders and the public over excessive bonuses during one of the worst economic crises the world has seen.

BMW plans to tie executive bonuses to those of its blue-collar workers, in a bid to create a fairer and sustainable compensation environment within the company. Starting in 2010, the company will use a common formula to ascertain and award bonuses to its upper and lower level employees, based on the company’s performance as measured by profit, sales and other factors. That means that upper level management could potentially lose more money than their lower level counterparts for bad performance, BMW said.

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China is now BMW’s biggest market after Germany, the US and the UK. BMW AG’s sales in China rose 32 percent to 62,394 during January-September, with the BMW brand’s deliveries reaching 59,400. The MINI division reported 2,934 units sold.

BMW is the second-bestselling German luxury car brand in China with Audi being the leader in the Chinese car luxury market. In September, BMW/MINI sold 8,131 units in china, Audi reported 15,000 and Mercedes-Benz around 7,000 units.

Based on the official numbers, China leads the world as the top market for the BMW X6, with about 4,500 units sold this year.

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As sales are starting to pick up, BMW announced last week the addition of 700 contract workers at its U.S. plant near Spartanburg. BMW is adding two more 10-hour production shifts to prepare for the new X3 and a slight increase in X5 and X6 production.

The jobs, which are being filled by BMW’s contract agencies MAU Inc. and Tier One Solutions and it shows the first sign of a turnaround since the economic crisis hit most of the auto makers. The first new 10-hour shift began Friday while the second 10-hour Friday shift will commence next month. The staffing agencies initially contacted people who had previously worked at BMW to see if they could return to the plant for the 10-hour shifts. The positions are in production and logistics.

“We’ve seen a little pickup recently in ordering across our entire system,” BMW spokesman Bobby Hitt said. “We don’t know why, but we’re taking this as a good sign. And we’re responding to it.”

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World’s first emission-free foundry.

From 2010, BMW’s Landshut plant will boast the world’s first foundry with emission-free sand core production. The light-alloy foundry at the BMW plant is introducing a new sand core production method for gravity die-casting, whereby conventional organic binders will be replaced by highly eco-friendly inorganic binders, which generate virtually no pollutant emissions. The introduction of this innovative production method will allow the light-alloy foundry to reduce its emissions of combustion residues by 98 per cent. The plant will completely decommission its current waste air treatment systems by 2010.

The Landshut light-alloy foundry’s approximately 1,300 employees currently produce around 1.8 million aluminium and magnesium castings a year, with a total weight of 45,000 tonnes. The product range includes engine components such as cylinder heads and crankcases, structural components and chassis parts such as suspension strut supports, tailgate frames, corner castings and casting nodes for the front and rear axle.

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