By Wang Weiwei

The new BMW 5 Series Long Wheelbase sedans have finally stricken a pose on the stage!

The new BMW530Li, BMW525Li and BMW 523Li sedans premiered globally on the Beijing 2006 International Automobile Exhibition, which is a powerful evidence showing that BMW is actively enhancing its participation in the Chinese automobile market. It is said by BMW that these models are especially developed for the Chinese market in order to meet the individual demands of Chinese customers for comforts and rear-seat room.

This is the first time for BMW to design a new model with the wheelbase prolonged for the market in a certain country.

Early as in 1997, BMW launched its 7 Series long wheelbase sedans in Asia market, and made a success in the Chinese market. Currently, China has become the second biggest market for BMW 7 Series sedans in the world. Such a success also makes BMW more confident in customizing long wheelbase sedans for the Chinese market.

The new BMW 5 Series long wheelbase sedans that were designed in BMW's Research and Innovation Center in Munich will be manufactured by BMW Brilliance. The reference unit price of new BMW530Li, BMW525Li and BMW523Li sedans in the market will be RMB 699,000 yuan, RMB 612,000 yuan and RMB 518,000 yuan respectively. New models of the BMW 5 Series long wheelbase sedans otherwise configured will be launched in several months to meet more customers' individual demands and the unit price will be disclosed by then.

The special feature of the BMW 5 Series long wheelbase sedans lies in that the wheelbase is prolonged by 14cm and the vehicle height is 0.9 cm higher than that of previous BMW 5 Series sedans; the BMW530Li and BMW525Li cars are also equipped standard with a rear console newly developed and an all-in-one amusement system, a folding table, two displays in the rear of front chair and a deepfreeze.

With the wheelbase prolonged by 14cm, it accords with an ergonomic consideration and is the optimal for axle-load distribution, power matching and the agility performance of the whole vehicle. A set of data can be used to describe BMW 5 Series long wheelbase sedans: the new model car was driven by a 6-cylinder line engine and the output power is in the range of 130Kw/177Hp to 190Kw/258Hp. Compared with the 5 Series common model cars, the weight of a long wheelbase car increases by 30 kg and the drag coefficient increases by 0.001 or so; the speedup time from 0 to 100km/h only increases by 0.4 to 0.6 second with the oil consumption per hundred kilometer only increasing by 0.4 to 0.6 litre.

It is reported that all the three models of BMW 5 Series sedans earlier manufactured in China will be changed to respective long wheelbase versions while the previous production of common version cars will be ceased; in turn, imports will be used to meet the demands of customers for BMW 5 Series sedans. Such a measure will help to properly differentiate the two major groups of customers in favor of the BMW brand in the Chinese market: people who especially want to experience the driving pleasure can buy a brand-new BMW 3 Series car while those who want to experience the driving pleasure while enjoying the comfortable sitting can buy a long wheelbase 5 Series car.

It must be said that BMW "prolongs" the wheelbase especially for the Chinese market simply to cater to the Chinese characters. The Chinese market has been requiring to introduce in long wheelbase version cars ever since the production of Santana cars. It almost becomes a common understanding that a mid- and top grade car or a luxury car is doomed to have its wheelbase prolonged. The long wheelbase sedans are very popular which has nearly become an established feature for sale. Today, when the automobile consumption is still symbolic, the long wheelbase sedans have become a favorite mobile carrier for etiquette and business.

Simultaneously, the long wheelbase BMW 5 Series sedans also signify BMW's strategy in the Chinese market. From the 5 Series to the 3 Series, again to the new 3 Series, and to the new 5 Series sedans which will be put into production in China, BMW does launch new type cars every year and its product series have become abundant incessantly. In terms of either imported sedans such as 7 Series, 6 Series, Z Series and X Series, or Mini and Rolls Royce, BMW implemented such a product strategy of marching into the segmented market of luxury cars in China. So far, BMW has become a single brand with the most complete types among the various luxury car brands in the Chinese market. With the sales volume increasing rapidly from 18,000 sets in 2003 to 24,000 sets in 2005, BMW will maintain its growth rate of last year this year; thus, it has realized the goal to achieve the rapidest growth in Asia market which was expected by Helmut Panke, BMW's former Chairman.

There have also appeared some difficulties along the development of BMW in the Chinese market, and it was once maladjusted to the market. In 2003 and 2004, BMW's sale in the Chinese market had been decreasing incessantly; in 2005, it was also faced with the pressure of a price war. But what makes BMW feel gratified is that BMW's automobile sales volume in 2005 was totally different from that in 2004. The statistics of BMW showed that the overall automobile sales volume of BMW in 2005 increased by 52 percent year-on-year, 12 percentage points higher than the expected growth margin, while the sales volume of BMW's major car types and that of products of BMW's joint venture enterprises in China had also improved. For example, the sales volume of BMW Brilliance increased by 77 to 78 percent year on year, and the sales volume of imported cars increased by over 20 percent on a year-on-year basis; in terms of car types, both the sales volume of X5 cars and that of X3 cars increased by 57 percent year on year, that of 7 Series by nearly 20 percent, that of 5 Series cars by 63 percent year on year, and the sales volume of 3 Series cars had doubled when compared with that in the year before.

The data of 2006 much delighted BMW. Dr. Michael Ganal, a director of BMW, said at the Beijing 2006 International Automobile Exhibition that during the previous 10 months this year, BMW had altogether delivered 28,000 BMW cars, nearly 900 Mini cars and 20 Rolls-Royce cars to customers in China mainland, up 53 percent year on year.

Today, driven by localization of BMW cars in China, the fact is not in the air that the comprehensive strength of BMW has been shown and performed while being transformed into competitiveness in the market. Complying with such a strategy in the Chinese market, BMW is incessantly accelerating its step to obtain larger shares in the luxury cars market. Michael Ganal disclosed that in several weeks, BMW's first automobile spare parts distribution center in China would be set up in Beijing, and the spare parts distribution center in Shanghai is also under construction, which will ensure that automobile spare parts produced by BMW's original plants can be delivered to their distributors in China within 24 hours. Simultaneously, BMW has also been increasing its distribution and service stations incessantly.