Saturday June 9, 2012

Rolling out the BMWs

BMW Group Malaysia introduced its first batch of the locally assembled production model of the new BMW 320d and BMW 328i at the BMW assembly plant in Kulim, Kedah recently.

Introducing the new models, BMW Group Malaysia corporate communications manager Sashi Ambi said: “Since we introduced the all-new sixth generation BMW 3 Series in March this year, the premium sports sedan has rapidly grown to become the number one bestseller and key contributor to our growth in becoming Malaysia’s number one best-selling premium carmaker for the first quarter of 2012.”

Sashi added that the new locally assembled units of the BMW 3 Series were identical in all aspects to their imported counterparts which further allows BMW Group Malaysia to optimise its supply to customers throughout the country as well as maximise the total cost of ownership value, waiting time for complete units and spare parts for BMW customers in the country.

Sporty beauty: The new BMW 3 Series Sport Line.

New to the locally assembled variants of the BMW 3 Series is the option of BMW Lines in which the new BMW 328i now offers the choice of BMW Lines of the Sport Line and the Luxury Line while the new BMW 320d is now available, for the first time, with the Sport Line and the Modern Line.

The new BMW 328i is further fitted with the BMW Group’s innovative new BMW Connected Drive Apps, providing drivers with functions which serve to ensure maximum convenience, infotainment and safety.

“Now customers will also have the added option of customising their BMW 3 Series with the highly stylish BMW Lines, a feature of specific exterior and interior designs as well as equipment elements which gives the car an unmistakable character — making the car, your BMW 3 Series,” said Sashi.

As a further affirmation to the car’s superior quality, the sixth generation BMW 3 Series has recently been awarded a five-star rating, the top rating provided by the universally acknowledge Euro New Car Assessment Programme (NCAP) standards of evaluation.

In addition, the premium sports sedan from BMW was also awarded an honourable mention at the Red Dot Awards 2012 for a particularly accomplished detail solution.

The awards council in its description said: “As an iconic compact sports sedan, the BMW 3 Series Sedan embodies the core values of sportiness, elegance and dynamics. Its exterior design displays sharp lines that demarcate the taut surfaces within typical BMW proportions. As a systematic evolution of the front design of earlier models, its headlights and kidney grille form a continuous visual unit. The main theme of the interior design, meanwhile, is “layering” — the interplay and offsetting of various layers to allow optimal access to all important functions.”

“The BMW 3 Series has been and continues to be the best-selling sports sedan anywhere in the world with well over 12 million units delivered since 1975. With local assembly operations now fully under way, we are confident the sixth generation BMW 3 Series will continue to be a core contributor to our business success for years to come,” said Sashi.

Since the car’s creation in 1975, the BMW 3 Series has continuously set the benchmark in introducing all new technological capabilities to the market and the car’s sixth generation iteration has been no different as it also involves the introduction of all new advanced assembly processes and techniques to BMW’s assembly facilities in Kulim facility. The move is in line with the company’s overall goal of achieving full sustainability in the automotive industry through its BMW Efficient Dynamics strategy.

Operational since 2008, the BMW Assembly plant in Kulim has been an integral part of BMW’s success in Malaysia with a production run of more than 12,000 units to date. With a workforce of over 250 employees and equipped with the latest in manufacturing technologies, the plant generates variants of the BMW 3 Series, BMW 5 Series and BMW X1 in Malaysia.

The plant is operated in partnership with Inokom Corporation, a subsidiary of Sime Darby Bhd at the Inokom factory in Kulim, Kedah. Both BMW and Inokom share factory space but operate separate and independent assembly lines in the facility.

“Here at Kulim, our BMW assembly line facility operates to the standards of any BMW production facility anywhere in the world and we are proud to report that our operations are constantly leading to the introduction of superior premium quality assembly line technology, practices and standards to Malaysia, not to mention the creation of over 250 professional and skilled work opportunities,” said BMW Group Malaysia production manager and plant representative Manfred Zink.

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News

Saturday June 9, 2012

Rolling out the BMWs

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