In Nanning city, capital of Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, a driving course at a BMW dealership last month attracted more than 100 locals including BMW car owners, potential buyers, novice drivers and even owners of other car brands.

It is part of BMW's latest efforts to expand into less-developed regions in China, emerging attractive markets and the best potential source of new sales for carmakers.

According to a report by Bernstein Research, eight of China's 10 fastest-growing car markets last year - and 10 of the top 15 - were located in less-developed regions such as Guangxi, where car sales increased nearly 30 percent from the previous year.

Ian Robertson, a BMW director and head of global sales and marketing, said many sales are coming "in cities that did not have a car dealership until recently".

"We are into the majority of third-tier cities and pushing into fourth-tier cities," he said.

BMW now has around 420 dealerships across China, more than half of them in lower-tier cities like Nanning, which is home to 6.5 million people, but less than 3 million of them live in urban areas.

And though new markets are less developed than large cities like Beijing and Shanghai, that does not mean lower quality service at local BMW dealerships, said Xiao Yi, head of BMW China Training Academy.

She said that before a new dealership opens, wherever it is located, its employees must take a comprehensive and strict training package.

Conscious of its luxury image, BMW does not fundamentally alter its sales pitch in lower-tier cities. Like its dealerships in larger cities, the Nanning outlet employs a "product genius" to explain each car's design and technology features to potential customers while leaving the salespeople to close deals.

The BMW Nanning dealership sold 2,000 cars last year, and projects that number to grow 25 percent this year, said General Manager Wei Yongchao.

"There has been a very clear trend over recent years," he said. "People are now prepared to spend more money and buy a luxury automobile."

The 400th BMW dealership in China opened last November in Wuhan, Hubei province. But different from a traditional store, it focuses mainly on after-sales services and maintenance.

Tian Sheng, BMW's China dealership development supervisor, said that the opening of the 400th dealership means not only expansion of the BMW dealership network, but more importantly shows the diversity of the company's development in the nation.

Kang Bo, vice-president of after-sales service of BMW China Automotive Trading Ltd, said that after-sales service has become an important component in the competition among premium carmakers as consumers have higher expectations.

zhangzhao@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 04/20/2014 page5)