German automaker BMW Group announced its plans to invest an additional 20 billion yuan into its production base in Shenyang, Northeast China’s Liaoning Province on April 26.

“The new investment underlines not only our confidence in China’s long-term economic prospects but also in the innovation capabilities of our Chinese partners,” said Oliver Zipse, chairman of the board of BMW.

Q: BMW has been at home in China for 30 years. Now, China is BMW Group’s largest single market in the world. So, what position does Liaoning take up in this home? After two decades in Liaoning, are you satisfied with your development here? What has this development meant for the BMW Group？

A: With today’s signing ceremony, we underline our commitment to China, to China’s society, to China’s industrial development and its innovation force.

I think with the “new quality production forces” we are altogether implementing here, we underline the importance of innovation for societal development. 

We started 30 years ago to enter the market, as a pure sales organization. Twenty years ago, we started here in Liaoning to set up a production place. Today, it is our largest production base all over the world inside the largest car market in the world for BMW.

We are very grateful that we can operate here in a more and more competitive environment, specifically up here in Liaoning, to set up the next generation of models we call NEUE KLASSE.

Q: Why does the BMW Group decide to further invest in Liaoning? What is your goal? Looking at the next step, will the Chinese market become more important or not? Why?

A: This is a perfect example of win-win cooperation between a local government，which is extremely supportive in our development here. We see the result in having actually four production sites here around in Liaoning, around Shenyang.

We would like to emphasize that we are very grateful, and I would like really to thank the local government, and all divisions the local government has, for the support in recent years, and also underlining with the Memorandum of Understanding we signed today, to set the path for future development. So, thank you to the local government.