BMW said it will build a driving center in Korea by July 2014, The Wall Street Journal reports.
The BMW driving center will be located in Yeongjongdo, Incheon, 40 kilometers west of Seoul. The company will invest 70 billion won, or $62 million.
The center, the first of its kind in Korea, will give existing and potential customers an opportunity to drive BMW and Mini vehicles on a 2.6-kilometer track consisting of six different driving courses. It will also feature a training academy, an exhibition hall with BMW’s lineup, a cafe and a restaurant.
“Korean customers are very demanding in their standards … demanding in service requirements, luxury expectations and consumer electronics expectations,” Hendrik von Kuenheim, senior vice president in charge of BMW Group’s Asia, Pacific and South Africa regions, told Korea Real Time. “If we succeed in Korea, we probably succeed in every market in the world.”
“We want to bring young people early to the driving experience” and to teach them about safety and how to drive environmentally consciously and fuel-efficiently. He estimated that 200,000 people would visit the center annually.
The company is estimated to sell about 33,000 BMW vehicles and 6,000 Minis this year in South Korea.
Source: The Wall Street Journal
