As expected, driving machine! BMW Korea's 30th anniversary..South Korea's economy and co-growth
Jun 09, 2025
|
The key to this event is an experience event to feel the identity of a high-performance driving machine while pointing out the history of BMW Korea's growth with Korea over the past 30 years. The slogan of the 30th anniversary festival was "Define Driving Pleasure Again."
It is a tour program that looks back on the history of the BMW brand in Korea, which is in the rush of the event. In 1995, Germany's BMW Group invested all of its capital and was established as the first "import vehicle corporation" in Korea. Since then, as sales have increased, parts and logistics centers have been built for the first time in the imported car industry to satisfy customer service.
In fact, BMW Korea appears in the "first" of all history of imported cars. Later in 1999, BMW Motorrad was established to open the premium motorcycle market. In 2005, the company introduced the premium compact car brand Mini (MINI) to pioneer the compact car market with individuality and lifestyle.
At the time of its establishment in 1995, the Korean import car market was only 6,921 units per year. BMW also sold about 700 units. Over the next 30 years, the domestic import car market has grown about 35 times, accounting for 20% of the total automobile market.
BMW Korea surpassed 20,000 units for the first time in 2011, followed by 30,000 in 2013 and 40,000 in 2014. The cumulative sales by 2024 are 808,409 units.
In addition, by 2024, Motorad sold 33,814 units and MINI sold 126,113 units. The total cumulative domestic sales of all these brands are 968,336 units as of the end of 2024. Now, the Korean market is the world's fifth largest in BMW Group.
In addition to vehicle sales, BMW Korea has grown along with the Korean economy with large investments. The BMW Driving Center, an automobile complex cultural space opened in Yeongjong-do, Incheon in 2014, is a representative example. It built a driving center that even Hyundai Motor Group could not do at the time.
Starting with the initial 77 billion won, a total of 95 billion won was invested, including expansion (13 billion won) and 10th anniversary renewal (4.9 billion won). By 2024, the cumulative number of visitors exceeded 1.62 million and 250,000 participants in the driving program.
It also continued to invest in service parts supply chains. In 2017, it spent 130 billion won to build and relocate a large-scale parts center in Anseong, Gyeonggi-do. It is the largest BMW overseas subsidiary and domestic import car industry, with more than 60,000 parts, securing more than 95% of parts compared to its headquarters in Germany.
By 2027, an additional 65 billion won will be invested to expand the distribution center to 10,000 pyeong and build a separate warehouse dedicated to electric vehicle batteries.
It is also active in responding to telecommunication. BMW Korea has secured a total of 2,125 electric vehicle chargers by 2024. This year, 600 additional units, including charging stations, will be added to a total of 3,000.
Research and development are also being strengthened. In April 2024, BMW Group R&D Center Korea was expanded and relocated to Cheongna International City, Incheon. It is equipped with various test facilities such as an electric vehicle charger test building, a certification laboratory, and a maintenance and research space.
BMW has laid the framework for joint growth with its domestic partners. In 2024, BMW Group purchased components worth 4.5 billion euros (about 6.535 trillion won) from domestic companies. This exceeds BMW Group Korea's sales (about 6.10 trillion won) in the same year, and the cumulative purchase since 2010 is 37 trillion won.
Major partners are Samsung SDI, Samsung Display, LG Electronics, Hankook Tire, and Sebang Battery. BMW is equipped with Samsung SDI's high voltage batteries in nine out of 11 electric vehicles. The mini circular OLED display was developed jointly with Samsung Display.
Vehicles representing BMW Korea's history were displayed in the 30th anniversary exhibition space. The 3 series of high-performance driving machines that were popular in the late 1990s, the 5 series of mid-sized sedans representing imported cars, and the 7 series that opened the luxury limousine market are on display. BMW's first imported motorcycle R1100S, which appeared in 1999, can also be seen.
On this day, the new series of small cars 1 and 2 were introduced to the media. These vehicles, which will enter the contract in June, are front-wheel-drive, practical hatchback 1 series, and sedan 2 series that boast the silhouette of Gran Coupe.
What drew attention was the expansion of the "Kidney Grill," which is lit with lights, to small cars. The exterior is also attractive, but the interior shines. It has a modern dashboard and plenty of second-row space.
Next is the BMW Art Car exhibition. The "THE 8 X Jeff Koons" art car based on the BMW 8 Series Gran Coupe was produced and sold only 99 units worldwide. It is a vehicle that has invested more than 200 hours in external painting work using 11 external colors such as blue, silver, yellow, and black.
After looking back on the history of the 30th anniversary, it is time to meet BMW's future. The iX5 Hydrogen, the first hydrogen fuel cell vehicle, is a representative example. It is still in the testing stage, but it is a prototype that can be mass-produced immediately.
The electric convertible 'Skytop', which was developed with the motto of the 8 series convertible in the past, shows the essence of future design. It utilizes the design characteristics of electric vehicles and exudes the charm of luxurious interior and "open top airing." Skytop sells only 50 units in the global market.
Various entertainments such as more than 10 types of food trucks, face painting, racing simulations, golf, drone experiences, and bumper cars are also provided around the exhibition space and parking lot. In other words, it is a festival celebrating the 30th anniversary of BMW Korea, which is enjoyed with customers.
Now it's time to feel BMW's 'driving machine' performance. It is a "taxi time" where BMW driving center instructors can ride in a high-performance M vehicle driven by BMW driving center instructors and feel the thrill of 3G being delivered to the whole body from drift.
I was able to experience with my whole body why BMW emphasized the joy of driving while going around the driving center circuit three times. He then boarded the X5 and experienced an off-road course in the BMW driving center.
Finally, the spectacular drift performance marked the event's focus. BMW Motorcycle, Mini JCW, and BMW M vehicles will appear alternately to perform drift performances. The spectacular performance driving and drift were enough to give BMW its own charm.
Youngjongdo = Editor Kim Tae-jin tj.kim@carguy.kr
This article was translated by Naver AI translator.
