GUANGZHOU - BMW will become the first foreign luxury car manufacturer to export China-made cars when it begins shipping locally produced long-wheelbase 5 Series sedans overseas at the end of the year.
The Bavarian carmaker said on the eve of the ongoing Guangzhou auto show that its joint venture in the northeastern city of Shenyang with China's Brilliance Auto will export the 5 Series Li in December, but it did not specify the destination.
Christoph Stark, president and CEO of BMW Group Region China, said that as a trial effort, the shipments will not have big volume at the outset.
"We will find some markets, maybe in the Middle East, somewhere in Asia, or some other markets that welcome the products where we can test this (export effort).
BMW's new 5 Series sedan has proven "extremely successful" in China, Stark said, after it was launched in August last year. Its share of the mid-sized premium sedan segment has surged to 27 percent, up from 15 percent more than a year ago.
The company currently builds the 3 Series and 5 Series in China. Year-to-date sales by the joint venture have hit 100,000 units.
Combined with imported BMW and MINI vehicles, the automaker has reported sales of 195,868 units in the country in the first 10 months, a 45 percent increase over a year ago.
With full-year sales certain to surpass 200,000-unit benchmark, Stark said in Chinese that the company has now grown from a "junior team" to a "youth team" in China.
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