BMW to open its largest ever showroom in Abu Dhabi

Abu Dhabi is set to unveil the world’s largest BMW showroom next week, the German carmaker’s local distributor has confirmed.

Abu Dhabi Motors, BMW Group’s exclusive importer in the UAE capital, will host a VIP party on February 14 to celebrate the opening of its new AED300m ($81.6m) showroom facility in Umm Al Nar.

Among the 1,000 guests due to attend include Ian Robertson, head of sales and marketing of BMW AG and chairman of Rolls-Royce Motor Cars and Lebanese singers Maya Diab and Wael Kfoury are set to perform.

On display at the new facility will be the BMW Vision Efficient Dynamics concept vehicle, which was driven by Tom Cruise in the hit Hollywood movie, Mission Impossible 4: Ghost Protocol, which was partially filmed in Dubai.

The opening comes after strong performance in the region, with the German carmaker posting a nine percent year-on-year increase in sales in the Middle East in 2011.

The company said it was the most successful year in BMW Group's history in terms of regional sales.

With a total of 18,657 BMW and MINI vehicles delivered to customers across 14 Middle East markets, it said most of its importers reported an increase in sales in 2011 and a number of markets recorded double digit growth.

The UAE remained the biggest market, accounting for 47 percent of BMW Group Middle East's 2011 sales. Abu Dhabi was the highest volume selling market, with a 23 percent growth and 4,436 cars sold while Dubai also witnessed an increase of 23 percent with 4,395 cars sold.

Other top performing markets included Qatar by 26 percent (1,265 cars), Saudi Arabia, with a two percent sales increase (3,072 cars) and Kuwait and Bahrain both with a six percent increase.

Also among the markets with the biggest growth were Yemen and Pakistan with 37 percent and 27 percent growth respectively.

Dr Joerg Breuer, managing director, BMW Group Middle East said: "The Middle East is enjoying robust growth across all sectors of the automotive industry, with the luxury segment in particular growing substantially.

"These market factors coupled with the commitment of our importer partners and the launch of seven new models during 2011, have helped drive our nine percent sales growth."

The company's flagship BMW 7 Series remained the highest volume selling model with 4,511 cars sold.

The BMW 5 Series also showed growth with 4,286 cars sold and a 30 percent increase.

MINI achieved a 77 percent growth in 2011 across eight Middle East markets and sales of 1,108 cars - the strongest growth since the brand was launched in the region 11 years ago.

In the UAE, Dubai was the biggest MINI market, with an increase of 164 percent (493 cars) while Abu Dhabi saw growth of 63 percent (196 cars).