(Beijing) September 27, 2008, Mr. Alfred Rupp, President and CEO of BMW Brilliance Automotive Ltd. was honored with the 2008 National Friendship Award by the Chinese government at the Great Hall of the People. This award is the supreme honor by the Government to foreign experts for their outstanding contribution, and it's the first time for the management of premium auto manufacturer in China to win this award.
The "Friendship Award" is the appreciation and supreme award the Chinese government confers on foreign experts for their extraordinary contributions to China's economic and social progress in technology, education, culture and talent fostering. Every year there are fifty winners getting this award and a total of 999 experts from 58 countries all over the world have won this award from establishment in 1991 to now.
Mr. Rupp expressed, "It's a great honor for me to win the National Friendship Award. I appreciate the high appraisal and recognition by the Chinese government to BMW Brilliance. We cannot have made such achievements without the full support from governments at all levels. In the future we will further integrate ourselves into the local society, make greater contributions to China's economic and social development and take more initiatives to promote friendship and cultural exchange between China and Germany.
Mr. Rupp joined BMW ten years ago and held the positions of senior management at BMW in Germany and overseas branches. In June 2006, he joined BMW Brilliance as Senior Vice President in charge of Manufacturing. In March 2007, Mr. Rupp was appointed as President and CEO of the company. Under his leadership, BMW Brilliance has achieved remarkable performance. The sales volume of BMW Brilliance amounts to 16,196 units just in the first half of 2008 and this figure has surpassed the overall sales of 2005. To honor the contributions Mr. Rupp has made for local economic and social development, the People's Government of Liaoning Province and Shenyang Municipal Government awarded him the title of Friendship Award of Liaoning Province and Outstanding Entrepreneur of Shenyang in 2007.
BMW Brilliance was established in May 2003. After five years' development, and the support from shareholders and governments, the Shenyang plant has become a highly efficient BMW plant. Currently, the plant manufactures 17 variants of the BMW 3 Series and BMW 5 Series according to the global quality standard of the BMW Group. On September 4, 2008, BMW Brilliance celebrated its fifth anniversary and the 100,000th BMW roll-off. At present, more than 50% of the BMW cars running on the roads in China are manufactured by BMW Brilliance.
Market orientation and the highest customer satisfaction are top priorities for BMW Brilliance. With the robust increase of sales, BMW Brilliance also develops rapidly in aftersales service: the authorized dealership network is steadily extended and by the end of this year, the number of BMW outlets will reach 120, covering almost all provinces nationwide. At the same time, the local supplier infrastructure has been continuously improved. In 2008 there will be 150 local suppliers and the local purchasing volume will amount to RMB 4.4 billion, which shows the commitment and achievements by BMW Brilliance in developing premium local suppliers.
BMW Brilliance has set the objective to become a good corporate citizen since establishment. In the past years, it has identified Education, Environment, Culture, Customer Engagement and Corporate Governance as the five pillars of the corporate social responsibility strategy. This fully shows BMW Brilliance's responsibility towards the Chinese society, as well as its confidence and commitment to long-term development in China.
