Asian experience

With intensive experience in sales and management of after-sale channels, the 55-year-old veteran has served BMW since 1985 and is no stranger to the Asian market.

He was responsible for the company's Southeast Asian business for a time in the 1990s, when it also covered the Chinese mainland market. He was a member of the team that appointed the first five BMW dealerships in China in 1994.

After moving to Beijing in January, Engel has already visited 30 dealerships in the country, including the one in Shenzhen that he opened in 1995.

"At that time the dealership was considered huge, but it's small by today's standards in China," he said, "We are amazed by the growth here".

Engel said he wants to visit 100 dealerships every year just like he did in Germany when he was the leader there for the last four years.

One of the company's most important targets is to improve dealer strength and profitability, he said.

Amid a slowing market and intensifying competition over the past year, dealers good in after-sales made money, while others didn't due to an over-emphasis on new car sales, Engel said.

He repeatedly stressed the idea that new car sales fluctuate but after-sales operations provide a "stable and volatility-proof basis" for the business.

There are now over 1 million BMW cars on the road in China and over the next three years the number is likely to double - bringing stable and considerable business to dealers across the country, he said.

Responding to the rising demand in after-sale services, the company is planning to build up more service outlets in the country, Engel said.