history of imported cars BMW Korea wraps up 30th anniversary festival in Korea
Jun 09, 2025
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A festival that displays meaningful moments and is decorated with rich entertainment
Under the theme of 'Define Driving Pleasure (Again), 'The Joy of Driving', this event was organized to thank Korean customers for their consistent support of BMW Group Korea for the past 30 years and to share their vision for the future to come.
First, the Brand Experience Zone was decorated to announce the meaningful moments of 30 years of growth with Korean society from 1995 when BMW Group Korea entered Korea to the present. In addition, parts exhibitions by Korean companies such as Samsung SDI, Samsung Display, LG Group, Hankook Tire, and Sebang Battery, which are working with BMW Group, once again signaled their continued contribution to the Korean economy and willingness to grow together.
In the vehicle exhibition space that follows, representative models that allow you to look at BMW Group's journey between the past, present and future, from heritage models to concept models, were displayed at a glance. Starting with the heritage model, the classic BMW 3 Series, 5 Series and 7 Series, Motorad's R 1100 R, and the classic Mini produced in the 1990s, the representative models of BMW and MINI currently on sale were displayed.
BMW iX5 Hydrozen, a BMW hydrogen fuel cell pilot model that gives a glimpse into the future of BMW Group, and BMW Concept Skytop, a concept model of the luxury roadster skytop produced in only 50 units worldwide, showed the past and future in one place. In particular, at the BMW Group Korea 30th Anniversary Festival, the BMW New 1 Series and New 2 Series, which were newly reborn through complete changes, were unveiled for the first time in Korea, attracting high attention from visitors throughout the three days.
On top of that, various taxi experience programs, including tracks and off-road where you can feel the dynamism and versatility of the BMW group model, as well as drift performances with BMW, MINI and BMW Motorad three times a day, sharing the true "joy of driving" with the audience. In addition, BMW and MINI lifestyle and M performance parts exhibitions, concerts by top artists, Oktoberfest-concept food zones, and other abundant entertainment were held as a venue for festivals that everyone enjoyed together.
In addition, the BMW Korea Future Foundation invited more than 300 students from the Incheon Children's Center to provide pleasant experiences such as junior campus laboratories, workshop programs, and brand experience tours and shared meaningful time.
BMW Group Korea Celebrates Its 30th Anniversary
BMW Group Korea entered the domestic automobile market in July 1995, and led the domestic import car industry by introducing BMW Motorrad, BMW's motorcycle division, in 1999, and MINI, a premium compact car brand, in Korea in 2005. Despite the withdrawal of many foreign companies and import car companies from the Korean market due to the IMF financial crisis at the end of 1997, BMW Group continued to invest, trusting the possibility of the Korean market.
In fact, BMW Group Korea has achieved rapid growth by writing a new history of the domestic import car market. It first exceeded 10,000 cumulative sales in 2002, and in 2011, it exceeded 100,000 cumulative sales. In 2010, BMW vehicles exceeded 10,000 units for the first time in terms of annual sales, and in 2017, it exceeded 50,000 units, continuing the leadership of the domestic import car industry. In addition, BMW Korea ranked No. 1 in imported cars for the seventh consecutive year from 2009 to 2015, and last year, it also ranked No. 1 in domestic import car sales for the second consecutive year following 2023.
BMW Group Korea's special "Korea Love" is behind these results achieved by BMW Group Korea. BMW Group Korea practices BMW Group's unique corporate philosophy of "doing its best as a corporate citizen of the country no matter which country in the world enters," and is deeply rooted in our society through various investments and active social contribution activities comparable to domestic native companies.
Spread of new automobile culture and social contribution activities
BMW Group Korea's strong will to grow together with the Korean market and Korean society is clearly revealed through various infrastructure expansion and active social contribution projects.
BMW Group Korea built the BMW Driving Center in Yeongjong-do, Incheon in 2014. BMW Driving Center, which has spent a total of 95 billion won so far, is the world's only car complex cultural space with tracks and customer experience facilities in one place within BMW Group, with a total of 1.69 million people visiting by May 2025.
BMW Group Korea is fulfilling its corporate social responsibilities more systematically and effectively through the BMW Korea Future Foundation, the first non-profit foundation established in the Korean import car industry in 2011. As of December 2024, the number of people who participated in BMW Korea Future Foundation's talent training program reached 330,000.
In addition, BMW Group Korea delivered seven X5 vehicles to the Fire and Disaster Headquarters for the first time in 2016 as fire command patrol cars, and since its establishment, it has donated a total of 141 research vehicles to specialized high schools and universities to carry out various social contribution activities such as continuing activities and support to cultivate professional technical personnel.
Active from facility investment to corporate partnerships
BMW Group Korea has been actively investing in various facilities and partnering with Korean companies, from distribution centers to electric vehicle charging infrastructure facilities.
In 2017, it invested about 130 billion won to build and relocate a new parts distribution center in Anseong, Gyeonggi-do. It has been created as the world's largest overseas subsidiary of BMW Group and the largest among domestic imported car brands, and will invest an additional 65 billion won by 2027 to expand and expand. BMW Group R&D Center Korea, a research and development facility, was also expanded to Cheongna International City in Incheon in April 2024.
BMW Group Korea first introduced BMW Charging Station, a premium public electric vehicle charging infrastructure, in 2022. A plan to expand electric vehicle charging infrastructure announced in 2023 The Charging Next project completed the installation of a total of 2,125 electric vehicle chargers, the largest in the domestic automobile industry, by 2024, and established BMW charging hub lounges to improve both the quality and quantity of electric vehicle charging infrastructure. BMW Group Korea will install 600 additional ESG charging stations and electric vehicle chargers in 2025.
In addition, BMW Group purchased components worth about 6.53 trillion won from local companies in 2023, exceeding BMW Group Korea's sales in the same year. BMW Group's purchases of parts to Korean companies have been steadily increasing, and the cumulative price of parts purchased from Korean suppliers from 2010 to 2024 amounted to 37 trillion won.
Establishing an after-sales system that delivers customer satisfaction
BMW Group Korea operates 121 service centers (81 BMWs and 40 MINIs), the largest number of domestic import automakers. In particular, it operates its own technician and service advisor certification system to foster excellent maintenance personnel, and 2,438 out of a total of 2,669 maintenance personnel are BMW's official certified maintenance personnel providing the best service to customers as of December 2024.
In addition, BMW Group Korea is also making thorough efforts to produce electric vehicle maintenance experts. BMW Group Korea has formed an expert course to train electric vehicle maintenance personnel with its headquarters in Germany, and the number of electric vehicle maintenance personnel held by BMW Group Korea reached 348, the highest in the industry as of December 2024.
BMW Group Korea will continue to carry out various events and campaigns and return the love shown by Korean customers over the past 30 years by introducing special limited edition models of BMW and MINI.
Editor Kim Tae-jin, tj.kim@carguy.kr
This article was translated by Naver AI translator.
