Sustainable growth
BMW Korea plans to build a large driving center on Yeongjong Island off Incheon, costing about 70 billion won. / Courtesy of BMW Korea
BMW creates new culture by opening driving center
This is the sixth in an eight-part series highlighting BMW Korea’s success story here. The Korea Times has selected eight key success factors and analyzed these based on interviews with company executives and industry experts to understand its strategies and knowhow. ― ED
By Kim Tae-jong
Last August, BMW Korea announced that it had chosen Yeongjong Island off Incheon as the location to build a large-scale driving center to offer drivers the ultimate driving experience in an adventurous yet safe setting.
It will be the Munich-based BMW Group’s fourth driving center, following two in Germany and one in the United States.
According to the firm, the center will be constructed on a site of 250,000 square meters on the island, where Incheon International Airport is located, by 2014, and will cost about 70 billion won, although more detailed plans have not yet been made public.
The project drew much attention due to its mega scale and interesting theme, and it also showed how importantly BMW views the Korean market.
In fact, experts attribute the current success of BMW Korea to its commitment to the market and long-term investment here for the future.
“When the local economy was in trouble due to the Asian financial crisis in 1997, many imported brands left the country. But BMW Korea chose to stay and began marketing more actively in confidence of achieving success,” said Cho Dong-sung, a professor at Seoul National University.
He added that BMW Korea was different from other imported brands, which mainly focused on selling more cars here.
“BMW Korea had a longer-term vision for this market. It made a long-term investment and started to build and strengthen dealer networks. It has even provided its cars for guests participating at international events here such as Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation, which was a really unusual decision for an imported automotive brand, but in the end, it helped enhanced its brand image here,” he said.
The driving center is expected to become another milestone for BMW here because it will create a new culture for drivers.
BMW officials said it will be like an amusement park which will attract 100,000 visitors annually.
“No BMW ownership is required, and it will be open to anyone who wants to experience fun driving. Whether a visitor is a skilled driver or has just got his or her license, different driving programs will help make them a safer, stronger and more confident driver,” a BMW official said.
On the race track, a core facility at the driving center, motorists can develop and exercise a specific set of skills through taking various courses and programs such as normal training and trying more aggressive road courses.
The driving center will also have other experience facilities such as museums and exhibition spaces to allow visitors, especially young ones, to learn more about automobiles such as the mechanics and history of cars.
Apart from the facility, BMW Korea has long made investments to improve the quality of customer services along with its dealers.
Now, BMW Korea has eight dealers who run a total of 42 showrooms and 42 repair centers nationwide, the largest number among imported automotive brands. The brand will soon have 649 maintenance bays and 1,053 repairmen, also the largest number among imported brands. It also has the largest number of highly-skilled technicians at 35.
Experts speak highly of BMW Korea’s expansion of after-sales repair networks which it has attributed with improving overall customer services for not only BMW owners but also customers of other brands.
“Many imported brands tend to delay investment until they see reasonable profits and customers can’t wait for that to arrive,” said Kim Pil-soo, a professor of automotive studies at Daelim College. “This is a typical question of which came first, the chicken or the egg.”
But BMW Korea made investments first and it led them to their current success, and now it also encourages other brands to offer similar services, he said.