'X Brand Night' shines light on BMW

Marque showcases its strategy and commitment to lead Chinese premium vehicle market

On Sunday evening, the "BMW X Brand Night" ceremony in Shanghai highlighted the brand's strong presence at the Shanghai Auto Show.

About 500 guests attended the ceremony at the Shanghai Automotive Exhibition Center, where the premium auto marque showcased its strategy to be the most innovative, dynamic and sustainable brand, together with its intention to lead the premium SUV segment with its successful X family.

New legend of X family

The letter X indicates primary energies and endless possibilities.

The letter has been on BMW cars since the 1980s, representing its Four-Wheel-Drive technologies.

It also symbolizes the group's extraordinary innovations and future-oriented concepts. As soon as the first high performance SAV X5 was launched in 1999, the X became a symbol of unique driving pleasure.

The BMW X family has been constantly expanding over the past 15 years, and offering a variety of choices for customers. The X family created and led its premium segments, and has achieved legendary success.

In 2003, the classic mid-size premium SAV X3 was launched, equipped for the first time with the xDrive intelligent All-Wheel-Drive system.

In 2008, the crossover X6 successfully made bold innovations in the coupe sector.

In 2009, the first compact premium SAV X1 was unveiled for city lifestyles, and local production of the model started in 2012 to better suit the demands of Chinese customers.

In 2014, the stylish X4 all-round coupe drove into the sector's premium position.

The BMW X family's tracks reflect the group's route to explore entire new fields. More than 3.5 million units of BMW X had been sold worldwide by the end of 2014, with almost one in three newly registered BMWs an X model.

The X family has boosted BMW to become one of the world's most successful premium 4WD carmakers.

At the event, BMW also launched BMW X5M, X6M, X1 Special Edition and X5 limited edition to boost sales, which manifest BMW's confidence in achieving another year of success in 2015.

Destination X tour

The BMW Destination X tour, one of the iconic experience marketing campaign in Chinese auto business, has been introducing fresh ideas and keeping pace with the times. This year, inspired by China's "Belt and Road Initiative" , the event will be closely linked to Chinese culture - driving along the new Silk Road.

The company announced the commencement of the 2015 Destination X at the BMW night. The Discovery channel is also joining the tour.

Destination X is an in-depth experience event created especially for China. It combines the remarkable product experience with several other elements, including discovering the natural world, challenging one's self, and working as a team.

BMW publicly recruits participants from across the country for Destination X, with 350,000 people registering for last year's tour by the latest event started in 2013, and 870 chosen to take part in the final series events as of February of 2014.

The event traveled across 15 provinces from 2006 to 2011, and crossed the seas to Australia, North Europe and Africa from 2012. It is leaving the X family's tire prints on wider horizons and spreading the joy of driving a BMW on a broader scope.

Destination X has been improving over the past decades, and deeply seeding the spirit of BMW X into people's hearts.

Living up to the BMW X family's spirit to innovate and challenge, the tour is now one of the most successful car experience events in China.

The BMW X family is ready to roll out for the year 2015, and for the creation of new legends along the trans-Eurasian new Silk Road.

haoyan@chinadaily.com.cn

The "BMW X Brand Night" ceremony held on Sunday evening in Shanghai offers audience with a wealth of experience of the brand, its cutting-edge technology and trend-setting models. Photos Provided to China Daily

(China Daily 04/20/2015 page5)