·BMW builds the largest R&D network in Germany except Germany

“For us, China is the driving force for innovation, especially in the field of electrification and digitization. China has become the dominant market today. Many of our inspirations come from China.” On May 15, BMW was located in Beijing’s Shunyi ( China) R&D Center was unveiled at the opening ceremony, said Dr. Fu Lexi, Director of Research and Development at BMW Group. This is BMW's third R&D center in China. According to BMW, the R&D center focuses on quality testing, vehicle certification and localization strategy development.

According to the public notice of the Shunyi District Government of Beijing, the R&D center's mission also includes vehicle verification, testing and online of BMW's full range of models, including new energy vehicles, hybrid vehicles, smart cars and BMW's next-generation high-efficiency new engine projects. Diagnose, highlight the core components of new energy, driverless and other areas of research and development, and will carry many leading edge technologies of the BMW Group in the future.

In addition to the Beijing R&D Center, BMW also has a research and development center in Shenyang, which mainly serves BMW Brilliance, focusing on the development of electric travel and localized production. In addition, the BMW Group also established the BMW China Technology Center in Shanghai in 2013. The technology center includes the BMW Connected Driving China Research Institute established in March 2011 and the BMW Group Global Creative Design Consulting Shanghai Studio, established in April 2012. . The BMW China Technology Center is the third technology R&D center operated by the BMW Group after California and Tokyo.

It is understood that the BMW Shanghai R&D Center will be expanded in June this year. Sun Wei, President of BMW China Greater China, told reporters that the Shanghai R&D Center will expand on the current basis and undertake BMW's future strategy in China, including trend research focusing on future travel, creative design and digital applications, including interconnection. Driving, automatic driving, etc. On May 14, BMW obtained an autopilot test license in Shanghai, becoming the first international car company to obtain the license in China. It is reported that BMW also plans to carry out automatic driving tests in Beijing and other places.

“For an important market like China, we not only want to sell products in China, but also hope to conduct research and development in China, and to better understand the preferences and needs of Chinese consumers for our products. Regardless of the changes in the policy, we want Once again, the BMW Group will continue to implement the localization strategy as always.” At the end of April, Dr. Peter, a director of the BMW Group, responsible for corporate finance and China affairs, told the Economic Observer Online.

"We will conduct more road tests in China. China plays a very important role in BMW's automatic driving." Fu Lexi said that BMW will conduct a fourth-level automatic driving test in Shanghai, which said it will make full use of China in the future. Localize R&D facilities and work with more Chinese high-tech companies. Fu Lexi emphasized that BMW's R&D network in China is the largest outside Germany.

In addition, BMW also said that more and more funds will be tilted toward China in the future global R&D map. The data shows that since 2009, BMW has invested RMB 52 billion in the joint venture company. “BMW plans to spend 7 billion euros this year on research and development. Of this 7 billion euros, the growing proportion will be tilted towards research and development in China, which is without a doubt.” Dr. Peter stressed.

In 2017, the BMW Group achieved sales of 2.464 million units worldwide, while a total of 594,000 BMW and MINI vehicles were delivered in the Chinese market, up 15.1% year-on-year. With the unveiling of the BMW (China) R&D Center, BMW has also launched an innovative offensive in China. At the end of May, BMW Group will continue to increase the scale of research and development of high-voltage battery technology and officially launch the second phase of Shenyang Power Battery Center.

Among the German luxury brands, in addition to BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Audi are also strengthening localized research and development. However, most of the current car companies are basically planning and developing global models. The main research and development is done in their own research centers, and then imported into the global automotive market. "Unless the domestic market has a very large trend of subdivided products, it will basically not do local vehicle research and development, in other words, it is to do research and development of China's special vehicles," said an automotive industry engineer.

However, with the rapid development of new energy vehicles, intelligence and digitalization in China, more and more car companies have put these aspects of research and development in China, and thus feed back the global market.