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Published July 24, 2010

M-Phatic debut

The world's first BMW M showroom was painstakingly conceived and executed over six months. By Samuel Ee


THE new BMW M showroom may have cost $7 million to set up but it was worth every cent. 'This is the epitome of the M brand,' said Joel Chang, the executive director of Munich Automobiles, the first exclusive BMW M dealer in the world. He said: 'Our customers want something special and they deserve something special.'


PICTURE PERFECT
No detail is too small, including the resolution of the racing photos and their exact location on the showroom walls


M is the motorsport division of the German luxury carmaker and its cars and accessories are housed in a standalone facility at 30 Teban Gardens Crescent. Some M models include the M3, X5M and X6M, which are the high-performance versions of the 3 Series, X5 and X6 respectively.

Munich Automobiles is a new company that is jointly owned by Prestige Cars and Sime Darby, the parent company of Performance Motors Ltd, which distributes BMW in Singapore.

In addition to a showroom and workshop for M models, Munich Automobiles will also have a separate workshop to cater to non-M BMW vehicles. According to Mr Chang, the company has taken up a total of about 100,000 square feet of space, including the carpark area.

He added that everything about the new facility was painstakingly conceived and executed over six months. No detail was too small, he said, including the resolution of the racing photos and their exact location on the showroom walls.

The showroom can display up to six cars and in addition to new M models, Mr Chang has plans to park a heritage M car or two beside them. An interactive soundwall allows visitors to use headphones to experience the soundtracks of different M engines.

At the rear of the showroom, a floor-to-ceiling glass wall separates the showroom area from the air-conditioned workshop with its four workbays. For even better detail, closed-circuit TV cameras zoom in on the cars and project the images on two flat screens in the customer lounge.

With its white epoxy floor and stainless steel piston hoists - the first in Singapore - the M workshop is unlike your usual car workshop. 'We wanted a clinical look, like in Formula One,' said Mr Chang.

The M showroom will raise the profile of BMW's high-powered line-up as part of the worldwide strategy to strengthen the position and look of the brand, said Kay Segler, president of BMW M GmbH.

'This world's first BMW M showroom in Singapore represents the first step in our long-term commitment to bring BMW M customers a dedicated and focused experience with the brand,' said Dr Segler.

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