BMW Group Japan celebrated the opening of its new Tokyo Bay facility today under the motto “The Next 100 Years”, reflecting the company’s attitude to this, its centenary year. The 27,000m² complex houses spacious BMW and MINI dealer showrooms, unique brand experience areas, three cafés and two virtual reality experience areas. BMW Group Tokyo Bay is the latest innovative retail, brand and driving experience location in the BMW Group’s Future Retail programme, launched in 2013 to bring the BMW and MINI brands closer to the customer.
Speaking at today’s opening event, Dr Ian Robertson, BMW AG Management Board Member for Sales and Marketing BMW commented, “This stunning complex offers the ideal environment for customers to experience our two of our premium brands, BMW and MINI, in all their variety. Not only can they see a range of our cars in a spectacular static environment, they can also get behind the wheel and experience both brands’ exceptional dynamic capabilities. This is far more than just a new showroom – it’s somewhere for customers and fans to enjoy BMW and MINI in an exciting and engaging way.”
In line with the BMW Group’s philosophy of offering the best possible driving experience to its customers, whether in a BMW or a MINI, Tokyo Bay is also home to a test area, built to BMW M standards. In addition to driver training, customers can enjoy a driving experience of a kind which isn’t possible in Tokyo’s busy traffic. The entire BMW, BMW i, BMW M, MINI, MINI John Cooper Works and BMW Motorrad range is available to test, with an innovative online reservation system ensuring the availability of the customer’s chosen vehicle.
Back inside the flagship building, an 80 meter long gallery offers the ideal space to host a variety of events and exhibitions. For the Tokyo Bay opening event, it was transformed into a temporary catwalk for “Reflect the Future – Runway to The Next 100 Years”, a show which combined a range of classic BMW models with pieces from the ANREALAGE fashion line created by Kunihiko Morinaga.
Set in the heart of the new Tokyo waterfront area, near to the city’s 2020 Olympic site, BMW Group Tokyo Bay is ideally located to attract a wide range of visitors. In addition to offering customers and fans the perfect environment to find out more about the BMW and MINI brands, the Klein Dytham architecture-designed facility also offers external organizations a variety of meeting and exhibition spaces and even an international conference center.