BMW is top car company in Asia again: Far Eastern Economic Review survey

Singapore - BMW has been ranked the top car company in Asia for the
fourth time consecutively in an annual survey of corporate executives
and professionals conducted by The Far Eastern Economic Review, which
was published in its recent 'REVIEW 200' year-end double issue. In
addition, The Review also found that among all multinational
corporations operating in Asia, BMW offered the highest quality of
services and products. This is the third time running that BMW has won
this coveted award. In the overall survey of multinational corporations
across all industries, BMW moved up four places to 12th position from a
year earlier - the highest placed car company by far. The Munich-based
German luxury carmaker's closest competitor in the automotive industry
was in 33rd position. BMW also performed very well in the individual
country surveys, emerging as the leading car company in Indonesia,
South Korea and Taiwan. Across all industries, BMW was 9th in
Indonesia, 4th in South Korea and 10th in Taiwan. Headquartered in
Munich, BMW AG has been steadily raising its investments and commitment
to Asia to tap into the world's fastest growing automotive market. Last
year, BMW opened new subsidiaries in Indonesia and the Philippines
adding to its other wholesale companies in Japan, Thailand and S.Korea.
In addition, BMW also has an Asia-regional office, training centre and
parts distribution centre in Singapore; a manufacturing plant in
Thailand; and a representative office in China. In the first nine
months of 2001, the BMW Group delivered 46,600 vehicles to customers in
Asia, an increase of 10.2 per cent. Among the star performers were
South Korea (+79.9% to 2,108 units), Philippines (+71.8% to 323 units),
China (+71.7% to 4,663 units), Thailand (+33.1% to 2,360 units),
Indonesia (+30.4% to 2,282 units) and Japan (+4.4% to 27,067 units).
About Review 200 The REVIEW 200 is an annual readership survey that
ranks which companies in Asia best exemplify selected qualities of
corporate leadership such as customer service, product quality,
financial soundness, long-term vision and innovation. The survey was
conducted in 11 countries and was administered by ACNielsen, which also
compiles the data. The Far Eastern Economic Review is Asia's premier
business weekly and is wholly owned by Dow Jones & Company.