BMW pledges its commitment to marathon run of success

Of the 38,000 runners at this year's Shanghai International Marathon today, the leader, literally, is an electric car from the event's honorary sponsor BMW. The i3 being at the front of the pack saves the participants the often-seen dilemma of the faster they run, the more exhaust they inhale.

The brilliant idea is not a novelty. The premium carmaker's first electric car, BMW 1602, served as the lead car of the marathon at the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich, Germany.

Besides the i3, other official and service cars at the Shanghai marathon are BMW new energy vehicles, too.

"It's not a coincidence for us to be the only automaker to purely use new energy vehicles in the sponsorship of marathons. We are the leading solution provider of green mobility," said Olaf Kastner, president and CEO of BMW Group Region China.

"BMW has been leading a dynamic, passionate and progressive lifestyle and, most importantly, green mobility by supporting marathon with new energy vehicles for 44 years," he said.

BMW's sub-brand dedicated to new energy vehicles, BMWi, was launched in 2011 and the i3 hit the market two years later. Of premium car brands, BMW now provides the richest new energy vehicles product line-up in China, covering nine models in five series.

Kastner said the i3 is produced in a sustainable way, which means the whole car can be fully recycled, and all new-energy vehicles use the i know-how, including the eDrive technology, intelligent energy management, eBoost and battery technology.

"Now BMW is the strongest advocate of green mobility," Kastner said. "We are challenging ourselves as well as the industry to address future mobility from the new perspective of zero emissions, digitalization and full connectivity."

In the long run

BMW has been a long-time sponsor of running events worldwide, including two of the World Marathon Majors - title sponsor of the Berlin marathon and sponsor of the Tokyo race - as well as running events in 19 cities around the world.

In China, it has sponsored marathons in Shanghai, Lanzhou and Xiamen for the past four years, and the Chengdu marathon joined the list this year, as running is getting more and more popular in the country.

Kastner said that, as the world's most accessible sport, running is now a physical exercise representing a healthy lifestyle and is considered a process in which people can challenge themselves and find fulfilment. Marathons, as one of the most recognized running events, are much favored by young people aspiring to have a healthy lifestyle.

Statistics from the Chinese Athletic Association show that marathons in China attracted about 1.3 million people in the first half of the year, almost double the number in the same period last year.

Most of them were aged between 30 and 45, with many being executives and private business owners, who are among BMW's target customers.

"BMW is a trendsetter of this new lifestyle," Kastner said. "We forge a strong emotional bond with customers through our products, our brand and our shared passion for sports."

Each year the automaker supports tens of thousands of customers to participate in various marathons and running events, through which people share their joy, promote a healthy lifestyle and green mobility.

"We have a lot of 'super runners' among our customers and also in the company, and BMW is already a 'marathon' auto brand. This is not only because BMW is the strongest promoter of marathon and running events at home and abroad but also because sportiness is at the heart of BMW."

Kastner, a keen sports lover, said sports had shaped BMW's characteristics from the very beginning: its passion for innovation, its drive for success, its pursuit of sheer driving pleasure and its devotion to humanity.

"The marathon is one of the toughest tests of human willpower, resilience and physical strengths," he said. "It also brings the greatest pleasure, fulfilment and enlightenment to the runners, and BMW manifests this quintessential self-challenging marathon spirit of innovation, pursuit of perfection and a vibrant life."

The journey for BMW to build its leadership in premium mobility through constant innovation over the past 100 years has been a long marathon.

Kastner said there are many similarities between running a marathon and running a business: persistency, passion, a self-challenging spirit for innovation, strategies to sustain success and leadership.

One fitting example is the carmaker's latest market performance. In the first nine months of the year, BMW delivered 379,176 vehicles under the BMW and MINI brands on the Chinese mainland, up 10.6 percent year-on-year. In September alone, it sold 49,204 BMWs and MINIs, up 19.6 percent year-on-year.

But it will not rest on these laurels. "There are also differences between running a marathon and a business: a marathon has a finish line, but in running a business we are pursuing sustainable success."

Looking forward to the next 100 years, BMW said it will keep the marathon spirit alive and implement the Strategy Number One>Next to "transform ourselves from a premium automaker to a leading future mobility provider".

"We will continuously enhance the sheer driving pleasure under the new forms of autonomous driving and digital connectivity together with a new premium lifestyle of green mobility," Kastner said.

(China Daily 10/29/2016 page7)