Geissler said: "This is very special, because the cooperation with universities and vocational schools doesn't have anything comparable in the world. It has no comparison within BMW in other countries."

The Munich-headquartered group employs four focuses in its training strategy－talent assessment, training, development and retention. It uses the same Learning Management System and processes globally.

In 2015, the BMW China Training Academy introduced a range of approaches for teaching online, in classrooms and through internal training.

As the first premium auto brand to provide such large-scale training to its dealers, BMW Group continues to provide long-term support to its dealer partners and to assist them to overcome the challenges of fierce competition and economic changes.

Some initiatives, including field-specific training projects for auto shows, were launched to improve sales skills and boost dealers' overall competence, to help them better adapt to China's "new normal" market trends.

"Qualified people in our network are the basis by which to aim for profitable retail partners and to be number one in customer satisfaction in sales and after-sales," Geissler said.

"Only with well-qualified people are we and our retail partners able to achieve our goals. We see qualifications not as a cost factor, but as an investment."

Premium people

BMW's vision is to strive to have the most talented people and ensure the high performance of its retail partners.

"BMW stands for a premium brand and stands for premium cars," Geissler said. "We have to deliver the performance at a premium, so we need premium people."

BMW was listed for the third consecutive year among automakers on the 2015 top 100 best employers in China by Universum Business Consulting, which surveyed more than 60,000 students across the country.

"We offer state-of-the-art retail HR solutions, from recruiting to retaining, and contemporary and effective qualification methods and formats, such as, mobile learning solutions," Geissler said.