Major BMW Conference Held in KL

Major BMW Conference Held in KL

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In spite of the unpopular situation of the Malaysian auto market, ie having a ‘playing field that is not level’ for all car companies, there seems to still be interest in doing business here and some companies even continue to make investments.

BMW has even gone as far as to review its business operations here and following Prime Minister Dato’ Seri Dr. Mahathir bin Mohamad’s positive meeting with BMW Group’s top management in Munich in March 2002, discussions have been held with local partners and government officials to work out the details that will eventually see an increased involvement by the German luxury automaker.

“Our talks are progressing well but it is our policy not to disclose details until they are finalised,” said Lueder Paysen, Senior Vice President of the BMW Group’s Sales Division, The BMW Group is currently looking at the feasibility of setting up of several regional operations in Malaysia, including a parts centre in Johor.

As a further demonstration of its interest in doing more business here, the BMW Group also chose Malaysia to hold a major international conference recently. The two-day marketing and communications conference brought together some 50 executives representing sales, marketing and corporate affairs from the company’s Munich headquarters and subsidiaries from emerging markets, as well as from around the region.

“We are very keen to invest in Malaysia and even though we are still in discussions, we felt that we are already able to show our commitment by organising this annual conference here,” said Mr Paysen.

“Furthermore, as one of the most successful and dynamic economies in Asia, Malaysia provides an ideal backdrop for our conference which focuses on markets with great growth potential,” he added.

Interestingly, the company executives didn’t travel in BMW limousines to reach the capital city from KLIA; instead, they got on the high-speed KLIA Ekspres which takes less than half an hour to cover the journey.

“We certainly enjoy driving our cars, but we are also heavily involved in traffic management solutions. So if there is a faster, more efficient solution that reduces road congestion, such as the KLIA Ekspres, we are all for it!” said an impressed Mr Paysen.

Mr Paysen, who is in charge of sales in the Asia-Pacific, Middle East, Africa and Eastern Europe, chaired the conference which was held in Kuala Lumpur. During the conference, participants were given an insight into the years ahead as well as strategise plans for the medium term.

Over the next six years alone, the BMW Group plans to introduce no less than 20 new models and three new engine series in various segments of the market.

BMW’s performance worldwide has seen growth this year: in the first 6 months of 2002, the Group delivered 543,742 cars to customers, an increase of 18.2% compared to the same period last year. 88% of the cars were BMWs while the remainder were Minis.

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