China, a leading market, innovation hub to bring more opportunities, says BMW CEO

BERLIN -- China, a major marketplace and global leader in innovation, will offer more opportunities for cooperation between Chinese and German companies, Jochen Goller, president and CEO of BMW Group Region China, has said.

"Now China is a big marketplace and also leading innovation," Goller told Xinhua in a recent written interview, noting that the country has transformed the auto industry into a leading technology market in certain areas.

China has become the world's largest market of new energy vehicles, and a global leader in battery manufacturing, electric vehicle components and other aspects, Goller added.

In China, BMW has established four R&D hubs in Beijing, Shanghai, Shenyang and Nanjing, as well as Lingyue Digital Information Technology Co Ltd which focuses on improving consumers' digital experience, he said.

"That reflects the high quality of our development in terms of innovation," Goller noted.

With two vehicle plants, an R&D Center and a Powertrain Plant, the BMW Brilliance Automotive (BBA) production base in Shenyang, the capital of northeast China's Liaoning Province, is the largest production base in the BMW Group's worldwide production network.

Highlighting the innovation environment in China, Goller said, BMW's R&D team in China has tripled in size in the past three years. More than 3,200 designers, engineers, new energy vehicles and software specialists are working closely with Chinese technology partners to create cutting-edge innovations.

The CEO also mentioned that there are currently more than 460 local suppliers in China, and the number is still on the rise for the Bavarian company.

"We bring technologies to China in the automotive supply chain," he said. "We are leveraging the automotive competency of China, for example, in digital and in electromobility."

Meanwhile, Goller is upbeat about the prospect of cooperation between the two sides, especially in sustainability and circular economy. "Big growth of circular economy will be especially seen in China. This is hopefully an area which brings Germany and China closer together."

Expressing his confidence in the mid and long-term perspectives of China, he said "It's exactly the win-win of the automotive industry opening-up. A very strong marketplace was created, while a lot of qualitative development was also generated."