Chinese BMWs for Australia

If you thought all BMW's were made in Germany, think again. Although BMW promotes its vehicles as German – and all are inherently German designed and engineered – a large proportion of the vehicles it sells in Australia do not come from Germany.

Including Germany, BMW has manufacturing plants in 14 countries, such as the UK, South Africa and — soon — Mexico, and the vast majority of BMW SUVs (which account for roughly half of all BMWs sold in Australia) are made in the US.

And now it seems Chinese-made BMWs could be sold in Australia.

As with every other car-maker worth its salt, BMW's Chinese manufacturing operations are expanding to meet current demand, and whether or not its domestic sales in the world's most populous nation continue to increase, China could develop into a major export hub for the German luxury brand.

"If they want to push exports, at the moment we don't know, but that could actually be the next big thing," said Marc Werner, BMW Group Australia's managing director, of the German brand's Chinese operations.

"When we started in China about 15 years ago, we started with CKD (completely knocked down) manufacturing. Now we have three manufacturing plants, including an engine plant. The big question is what's going to happen in the next 15 years?"

Werner said it wasn't out of the question for Chinese vehicles to be exported globally in future as demand increases, and even sold in Australia at some point in the future.

As it stands, BMW's trio of car factories in Shenyang, in the country's north-east, build vehicles solely for China -- namely long-wheelbase versions of the BMW 5 Series, 3 Series and X1.

BMW's Chinese car making partner, Brilliance China Automotive, will be a key part of the brand's Asian manufacturing expansion and could help ease the strain on the company's Spartanburg plant in USA, which builds every SUV for the Bavarian brand except the X1.

The company also unveiled its China-only 1 Series Sedan this month, and Werner hinted that China's electric vehicle push could help the export case.

The Chinese government provides incentives for manufacturers to build zero-emission vehicles in a bid to alleviate the poor air quality found in its major cities, and it's no secret that China wants to become a world leader in EVs.

"The Chinese government has clearly decided they want to go for electric mobility, and I believe at least from what I've seen over the last couple of years they'll push that technology," Werner said.

Sales of EVs in China have surged in recent times, with almost 250,000 of them sold there in 2015 -- more than double that of the USA's 115,000.

Werner stopped short of saying BMW-badged EVs would be sold in Australia any time soon, but Chinese imports would make sense. The cars could be manufactured at lower cost in China, which is geographically closer than Europe and the US.

"Going forward there will definitely be some adaptations when it comes to the pure supply of SUVs out of the US, but it's too early to say where those other production hubs will be.

"Those kinds of changes are certainly under consideration at the moment, sitting with the board of management in Munich."

BMW is quick to allay fears of inferior products from its Chinese factories, saying: "The Shenyang plants fulfil the same high process, quality and safety standards as all other BMW Group locations."

Would you buy a Chinese-made luxury car, SUV or even EV? Have your say in the comments below.