The BMW Group and Brilliance China Automotive Holdings today performed the official grand opening ceremony of their joint venture plant BMW Brilliance Automotive in Shenyang, the capital of the Liaoning Province in the north-east of the People's Republic of China.

The BMW Group and its Chinese partner each hold a 50% share in the joint venture. A total of €450m (£302.4m) is to be invested by 2005. In the medium term, an annual production of around 30,000 BMW 3 Series and 5 Series vehicles is planned and the joint venture will employ approximately 3,000 staff.

The BMW Group regards the joint venture as a fundamental step in its process of internationalisation. On the basis of its ongoing product and market initiative, the company is strategically opening up new markets, particularly among the rapidly growing markets in Asia.

Over the next five years, the company is planning to increase its annual sales in the Asian markets from around 93,000 units in 2003 to 150,000 by 2008.

In order to continue its successful development in China, the BMW Group submitted a project proposal for a Sino-foreign joint venture in December 2001, together with the partner Brilliance China Automotive Holdings.

The jointly prepared project proposal was approved in July 2002 by the State Council of the People's Republic of China. The approval of the following feasibility study was received from the National Development and Reform Commission on March 14 2003.

BMW Group's total sales volume in Asia in the first four months of 2004 amounted to 29,799 deliveries (previous year: 25,387), which makes an increase of 17.4%.

In the 2003 financial year, the Chinese markets ranked for the first time among BMW Group;s top 10 sales markets