Preface: Amidst various challenges in 2024, BMW Group maintained its dominance in the luxury car market in China but witnessed a decline in sales and profits.

For the year, BMW Group reported a revenue of €142.38 billion, marking an 8.4% decrease from the previous year, with a net profit of €7.678 billion, a significant 36.9% drop year-on-year.

Globally, BMW Group delivered 2.45 million vehicles, encompassing BMW, MINI, and Rolls-Royce brands, representing a 4% decrease compared to the previous year.

Author | Fang Wensan | Image Source | Network

Addressing Intelligent Challenges: BMW's Strategic Alliances with Domestic Leaders

In the evolving automotive landscape, intelligent technology has become an indispensable feature.

However, with the surge in investments by automakers, the functional homogeneity of smart cabins and voice assistants has become increasingly apparent.

Particularly in the context of widespread technology adoption, many automakers' intelligent features tend to converge, making it challenging for consumers to distinguish substantial differences in functionalities like smart cabins.

Against this backdrop, BMW's breakthrough in intelligence is pivotal to the success of its ALL in AI strategy.

On March 26, BMW Group and Alibaba announced a strategic collaboration, leveraging Alibaba's Tongyi large model to propel the integration of AI large language models across various BMW models.

The fruit of this partnership, the new BMW Intelligent Personal Assistant, is anticipated to be integrated into BMW's next-generation vehicles by 2026.

Unlike the prevalent adoption of DeeSeek technology by many automakers, BMW's collaboration with Alibaba embarks on a deeply customized path.

Per the cooperation framework agreement, BMW will gain priority access to Tongyi Qianwen's latest and most powerful models and utilize Alibaba's extensive POI depth data exceeding 80 million pieces to offer personalized recommendation services to car owners.

Currently, BMW China's R&D team is utilizing Alibaba's newly released open-source inference model, Tongyi Qianwen QwQ-32B, launched on March 6, which boasts overall performance comparable to DeepSeek-R1.

Its core functionalities include anthropomorphic communication, multi-agent collaboration, and open ecosystem integration, enabling it to accurately capture user intentions, analyze complex commands, understand ambiguous semantics, and perform rigorous logical deductions.

Addressing the high-frequency needs of Chinese users, BMW plans to introduce two AI Agents: "Car Genius" and "Travel Companion," which will make their public debut at the Shanghai Auto Show in April.

Regarding BMW's customized AI engine architecture, the company will adopt the Tongyi large model as the AI foundation, integrating core capabilities such as speech recognition, speech generation, active services, and data services. In the middle layer, BMW will introduce its customized voice interaction and multi-modal interaction framework, integrating localized ecological applications like Alipay and Gaode Maps.

On March 17, 2025, BMW China and Huawei Terminal officially announced a cooperation agreement, deeply integrating into the HarmonyOS ecosystem in the Chinese market and jointly launching digital services, including BMW Digital Key, HUAWEI HiCar, and My BMW App.

Based on HarmonyOS NEXT, the two parties will develop diverse intelligent applications and functionalities, focusing on meeting high-frequency scenario needs, aiming to create a seamless, full-scenario intelligent experience for Huawei HarmonyOS users.

BMW's utilization of AI technology to enhance user experience will primarily focus on three key dimensions: driving pleasure, natural human-computer interaction, and immersive entertainment experience.

By enhancing these dimensions, BMW aims to achieve a multi-modal natural interaction experience encompassing both voice and vision.

For BMW, intelligence is not merely about boosting product performance but also about connecting the brand's unique experience with consumer emotions.

Deeply Customized AI Solutions: Alibaba as BMW's Preferred Partner

While DeepSeek's AI technology offers notable performance advantages, its solutions tend to be more standardized and generalized, potentially failing to tailor an intelligent experience that aligns with BMW's brand characteristics.

As an external partner, Alibaba might possess the technological innovation and deep customization advantages BMW requires.

Through its collaboration with Alibaba, BMW expects to obtain a set of deeply customized AI solutions, enhancing its intelligent capabilities and better integrating BMW's brand characteristics.

However, customization also presents amidst challenges continuous, upgrades including in increased intelligent time technology, and funds rapid, changes and in resources market, demand as, well balancing as the complex speed technical of integration technological and innovation market with validationp high. delivery is< crucialp for> BMWBMW.> choice of< a customized path signifies that it must invest substantial resources in technology dockingEnsuring and system integration to ensure that every detail meets the brand's high standards.

Especially that technology can be effectively implemented in a short period and delivering products that meet market demand in a timely manner is the key to the success of its AI strategy.

If BMW's collaboration with Alibaba can leverage the synergy of internal and external resources, it may bring robust technical momentum and brand fit to its intelligent strategy.

However, this also necessitates BMW effectively addressing the complexity of customized technology, adaptation challenges, and time and cost pressures of market validation.

Accelerating the implementation of AI intelligence in the rapidly evolving automotive market and ensuring that customized technology meets users' genuine needs will be BMW's primary challenge in the ALL in AI journey.

Conclusion:

Apart from BMW, the other two companies in the BBA trio are also actively promoting intelligent localization strategies.

FAW-Volkswagen Audi has established a strategic partnership with Huawei, planning to launch five new models based on the PPC+PPE platforms in 2025, all equipped with advanced intelligent driving assistance systems jointly developed by Audi and Huawei.

Additionally, SAIC Audi A5L has confirmed that it will be equipped with Huawei's Kunlun ADS 3.0 system and is expected to make its official debut at this year's Shanghai Auto Show.

Mercedes-Benz, on the other hand, is investing in China's autonomous driving startup Momenta, with expectations that at least four Mercedes-Benz models will be equipped with advanced driving assistance system (ADAS) software provided by Momenta in the future.

In the rapid development of new energy vehicles, while BMW's path may not seem as swift, its stability provides a solid foundation.

However, relying solely on its core advantages is insufficient for BMW at this stage; it must also make corresponding adjustments and innovations.

Partial data reference: Lei Feng Network: "After Introducing Alibaba's Large Model into Intelligent Cabins, BMW Plans to Finalize Its Intelligent Driving China Partner in the Second Half of the Year", Finance Auto: "Within Ten Days, BMW Has Successively Collaborated with Huawei and Alibaba: What Does It Want to Do?", China Auto 30 Think Tank: "BBA Races to Intelligent Localization | Why Is It 'BMW + Alibaba'?", GeekCar: "Does BMW's New Generation Still Have a Chance?", E-commerce Pro: "Alibaba Wins a Major Order from BMW", Golden Moment: "Huawei Wins BMW, Do BBA Collectively Abandon Their Souls?", Finance Breakfast: "BMW Collaborates with Alibaba: How Likely Is the Success of ALL in AI?"