BMW Group positioned to continue record breaking Mid East sales trend says Seemann

Middle East sales of BMW, MINI and Rolls-Royce cars have more than doubled in the last five years and Seemann, who took up his appointment on February 1, is confident the trend will continue this year with the new BMW X3, facelift X5, 6 Series Coupé, 1 Series and MINI Cabrio all due for launch in the region.

"The Middle East is one of the fastest growing regions in the world for BMW Group and I have every reason to believe that 2004 will be another record year for BMW Group Middle East," said Seemann.

"Our goal is to maintain our position as the fastest growing luxury performance car manufacturer in the region. This will be facilitated by sharper product differentiation, the completely separate management of our BMW, MINI and Rolls-Royce brands and new, enhanced importer facilities which will deliver greater customer satisfaction.

"The 20 new models that BMW Group will be launching in the region over the next five years will undoubtedly drive higher sales and help continue the exceptional market growth experienced in recent years."

Seemann, 45, has replaced Robert Bailey-McEwan as BMW Group Middle East's Managing Director. He was previously Managing Director, BMW Group Greater China, including mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan, based in Beijing.

Seemann, who is married with one child, has extensive international experience with BMW Group, having also worked in Germany and Singapore. He is no stranger to the Middle East. From July 1994 to July 1998 he was based in Dubai as the BMW Group Middle East Area Manager, responsible for six importer markets in the region.

"I am pleased to be back in the Middle East and look forward to working with our independent importer partners in the region," said Seemann. "The latest available figures show BMW Group is the number one German manufacturer of premium, high-performance luxury cars in the GCC and Levant. We could not have achieved this without the support of our importer partners, who forge and maintain relationships with BMW and MINI customers. They are very much a part of the BMW family."

According to Seemann, BMW Group Middle East's mission in 2004 is to make its partners even stronger, working with them to further enhance customer satisfaction and develop showrooms and facilities. He highlighted the company's appreciation of massive investment by importers, which sees the inauguration in 2004 of new showrooms and facilities in Sharjah, Kuwait City, Beirut, Damascus, Amman, Jeddah, Riyadh, Jubail, Mecca and Muscat, as well as completely separate new MINI showrooms in Sharjah, Kuwait City, Beirut, Jeddah, Riyadh and Muscat.

"Working in partnership with our importers, we seek to widen the gap from our nearest competitor and ensure BMW Group continues to occupy first position in the region's luxury high-performance car segment," said Seemann.