Recently, the BMW Group and the Chinese manufacturer Great Wall Motor (GWM) entered into a Joint Venture agreement to produce MINI electric vehicles in China. This new 50:50 joint venture arrangement will see a new JV company called "Spotlight Automotive Limited" if all approvals are given by the Chinese authorities. It will see the development and production of electric vehicles in China and the new state-of-the-art plant for this JV will be located in the Jiangsu Province of China (concept photo below).
The agreement was signed during an event for autonomous and connected driving in Berlin, Germany. The joint venture agreement was signed by Wei Jianjun, Founder and Chairman of Great Wall Motor, and Klaus Fröhlich, Member of Board of Management BMW AG for Development. It was attended by China’s Premier Li Keqiang and Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel. This is quite a big deal for both countries, not just two companies as the premiers from both these industrial giants were present to witness it.
China is going to be the largest electromobility market in the world. The country is cracking down on its levels of pollutions and the government sees zero emissions vehicles as the future. As such, the production of future battery-electric MINI vehicles in China, is a key element of MINI’s continued strategic development within the BMW Group’s Strategy.
It is also as important to GWM as this would allow technology sharing with a company that has been making headways in terms of electric vehicles - take a look at the award winning i3 and i8 as examples. This also allows sharing of technology and resources which will allow accelerated development of future electric powered vehicles by both companies.
According to BMW Group, this agreement is another significant step towards the electrified future of the MINI brand, coming in addition to start-of-production next year of the first battery electric MINI at the brand’s main plant in Oxford. This follows the successful implementation of electric and electric hybrid vehicles by BMW which now seems to be moving into full swing with the MINI brand.
As for GWM, the company has developed in core fields of new energy vehicles, such as motor, electronic control and power battery, with trial-manufacturing laboratory concerning cells, mechanism analysis, PACK and BMS, battery trial workshop, test center, and analysis center established. Furthermore, new energy technology R&D centers in Seongnam-si, Gyeonggi-do, South Korea and Lower Austria, Austria, built by GWM have developed leading technology with world-class talent resources and domestic companies.
“Today’s signing represents a new level of cooperation between China and Germany,” said Harald Krüger, Chairman of the Board of Management of BMW AG (seen shaking hands with Wei Jianjun, Founder and Chairman of Great Wall Motor).
“This strategic partnership is a clear win-win for the BMW Group and Great Wall Motor, enabling us to contribute to China’s ambitious plans to ramp-up new energy vehicles and reduce emissions in the mobility sector.” Krüger continued.
Klaus Fröhlich, Member of Board of Management BMW AG for Development also added, “The strengths and expertise of both companies complement each other well.”
“Our experience as a pioneer and leader in the field of electrification, coupled with Great Wall Motor’s proven track-record in efficient industrialisation, enables us together to drive the growth of the largest e-mobility market in the world. With our joint approach, we can quickly scale up production and increase efficiency in the highly competitive segment of compact electric vehicles.” Fröhlich continued.
“Today’s signing opens a new chapter in Sino-German cooperation,” said Wei Jianjun, Founder and Chairman of Great Wall Motor.
“Great Wall Motor and the BMW Group share a commitment to promote new energy vehicles. With the combined strength of both partners, our new joint venture will accelerate the uptake of electric vehicles,” added Wei .
The new JV is to take priority in terms of MINI EV cars in China. The BMW Group is firmly committed to continuing the successful cooperation with the established sales structure and channels in China and has no plans to set up an additional sales organisation in China for future MINI electric vehicles from this joint venture. The joint venture’s activities will focus on the development, procurement and production of electric vehicles for the Chinese market.
On a side note, the BMW Group also stated of its other JV arrangement in China is bearing fruit. The premium automotive brand also further expanded its highly successful BMW Brilliance Automotive (BBA) joint venture in China with its partner, Brilliance. BBA has become a cornerstone of the BMW brand’s success in its largest market where they sell and market BMW branded cars in China. Around 560,000 BMW brand vehicles were delivered to customers in China in 2017. These numbers are more than cars sold in the US and Germany, which are the next two largest markets combined. In short, two-thirds of all BMW vehicles sold in China last year were produced by BBA.
As for the MINI brand, China was MINI’s fourth-largest market for the premium compact car in 2017 with around 35,000 units delivered. BMW Group belives that this underlines the brand’s additional potential in China (and globally), which will now be significantly supported through the joint venture with GWM.
GWM sells the Haval brand of vehicles in Malaysia through distributors Go Auto. This piece of news could be interesting in the near future when we see electric MINIs here and maybe affordable electric Haval SUVs too that could be borne out of the BMW-GWM joint venture. The future is seemingly bright from the looks of things.
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