BMW 1-Series may be made in China next year

Shanghai, October 10 (Gasgoo.com) The BMW 1-Series models may be made in China within the next few years at BMW's Chinese venture with Brilliance Auto, China Car Times said earlier this week.

The BMW 1-Series could be locally produced as early as next year, cutting out the need to import BMW vehicles of this series into the Chinese market. The 1-series is currently imported into China, which drives up the price considerably due to import tariffs on all cars.

Currently the BMW 120i (MT/AT) and BMW 130i (AT) are sold in China as imported cars. The 120i with manual and automatic transmissions is going to be locally made while the 130i will still be an imported model.

The imported BMW 1-series costs between 270,000 yuan ($39,530) and 445,000 yuan depending on specifications and configurations, but a Chinese built 120i is expected to start at a reasonable 220,000 yuan.

BMW and Brilliance currently produce the BMW 3-Series and 5-series in China but also import various models including the 7, X and 1 series.