Steady growth, practical plans at BMW Brilliance

The joint venture also produces the BMW 3 Series - both standard and extended wheelbase versions - and the BMW X1 in the northeastern city of Shenyang, where it has two plants.

Its new plant in the Tiexi district of Shenyang is among the most advanced of all BMW facilities worldwide.

Its annual production capacity is expected to reach 200,000 units by the end of this year. Combined with its plant in Dadong district, the joint venture will then have an annual capacity of 300,000 units. The number can be expanded further if the market demand is there, Kastner said, adding that vehicles made by the joint venture will have more than 50 percent of BMW's total sales in China in the future.

Last year, BMW Brilliance also started to build the German giant's latest N20 engines in Shenyang, the first production site for BMW engines outside Europe.

A new engine factory is now under construction near the Tiexi vehicle plant that will bring the joint venture's annual engine production capacity to 400,000 units over the next few years.

The latest step in BWM's localization strategy is a new brand by the joint venture called ZINORO focused on new-energy vehicles at the initial stage.

Unveiled earlier this month, the brand's first product will be an all-electric vehicle that debuts later in the year.

"If you do not invest early in the car industry, you lose later on," Kastner said about the new brand.

He recalled that in 2002 BMW started to invest in what the company called its Efficient Dynamic program to improve fuel efficiency.

Although at the beginning the huge investment seemed to others like "throwing away money", it did pay off years later as the carmaker significantly lowered carbon dioxide emissions across its entire fleet, which he said forged "a clear competitive edge" for the company today.

"So we will go on this way," Kastner said.

He added that BMW Brilliance also has plans to produce a plug-in hybrid 5 Series.

Combining fuel efficiency and enough travel range, the plug-in hybrids are likely to outsell pure-electric vehicles for a long time to come, Kastner said.