BMW i3 and BMW i8 concept cars.

Olaf Kastner (left), president and CEO of BMW Brilliance Automotive Ltd, and Fan Gang (right), director of the National Economic Research Institute.

Shenyang - The final forum of the 2011 CBJ Think Tank China Tour closed on Nov 11 in the northeastern city of Shenyang after a seven-month around-the-country tour themed "sustainable development".

Organized by BMW Brilliance Automotive Ltd and the China Business Journal, the tour set off from Tangshan in Hebei province in May and traveled to 12 rapidly developing cities including Nanjing, Wuhan, Changsha, Hefei and Xiamen to consider the most critical issues in development.

"China has made extraordinary steps forward not only in its own economy but also with its role in the world economy," said Olaf Kastner, president and CEO of BMW Brilliance Automotive Ltd, at a BMW CBJ Think Tank session on Nov 8.

"Such development requires sustainable models and a clear strategy to follow them - this is of course true on all levels of social and economical development."

Kastner said the BMW CBJ tour "received strong attention and positive responses from different sides including local governments, entrepreneurs and academic circles".

"At a time when intellectual capital is more precious than ever, the think tank brought inspiration, vision and wisdom to the cities," he said.

Today, fewer than 100 vehicles are owned for every 1,000 people in China, far behind developed countries - showing the great potential of the Chinese auto market, Pan Jiahua, director of the Institute for Urban and Environmental Studies, said at the recent forum.

He is also a member of the BMW CBJ Think Tank, which has 16 experts from varied segments of business and society including economics, finance, enterprises and the workforce.

But Pan noted China's annual oil imports total about 250 million tons while the nation uses 350 million tons, 63 percent of it by vehicles - almost all imported oil is used by cars and other vehicles.

He added that China's CO2 emissions are now 830 million tons annually, far surpassing the United States and Europe.

Pan, who represents China in the UN climate change negotiations, is a top scholar in China's environmental economy and global sustainable development.

In response, BMW has begun R&D on new energy vehicles, which are perceived to be one of the best means to achieve sustainability.

"For the seventh consecutive year, BMW was recently awarded the honor of the most sustainable automotive manufacturer in the world by Dow Jones," said Kastner.

He said that the average CO2 emission from BMW cars is lower than 150 grams per kilometer, the least in the premium segment. It is even lower than the number in the 2-liter and above mid-range segment.

"As a responsible corporate citizen and a successful premium automotive brand, we deliver solutions to energy efficient, sustainable and safe mobility. That includes our production sites and production processes," he noted.

The president said during an interview at the forum that BMW Brilliance will develop a brand of new energy cars in its new Tiexi plant.

It will also make a new highly efficient BMW TwinPower Turbo 4 cylinder engine that has just gone into commercial production in Europe, Kastner said.

The company's plants in Shenyang's Tiexi and Dadong districts will reach a production capacity of 200,000 units in the mid-term and 300,000 units in the long term, Kastner told reporters.

"The plant is progressing well and in time," he said, adding that the company will release more information about its new energy strategy in 2012.

Fan Gang is another expert at the think tank. The director of the National Economic Research Institute and former senior advisor to the People's Bank of China said the nation's auto market will likely to sustain stable increases over the next few years.

He suggested that car owners in both emerging and developed economies adopt a more environmentally friendly way of living and driving.

The BMW CBJ Think Tank 2011 China Tour Forum is part of the luxury carmaker's "Joy" strategy in China.

From 2009 to 2010, the BMW 5 Series Li cooperated with influential trade promoter Global Resources to host business forums in more than 20 Chinese cities.

"Valuable input from institutions like the think tank and events like this play a very positive role," Kastner said.

As a front-runner in China's premium auto segment, BMW sold 177,522 BMW and MINI vehicles in the first nine months of 2011, a 45.7 percent increase over the same period last year.

"We are convinced that in the future, the premium market will be defined by sustainability and we have a clear strategy how to progress on this further," said Kastner.

Pan Jiahua,director of the Institute for Urban and Environmental Studies at Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.