Russia has its own way of doing things. It always has. Despite growing globalization, Russia remains, well, Russia. Rejecting outside influences, turning the media into the enemy of the people, and an authoritarian leadership trying to pass itself off as a democracy are the norm. Needless to say, basic consumer protection and transparency laws are deliberately vague if they exist at all. And that includes those that apply to new vehicles, such as BMWs.
Although BMW Russia is the officially licensed importer for the German automaker, not all Russian-market BMWs are built in Germany. An unknown number are manufactured at Russia's own Avtotor plant in the province of Kaliningrad, where not a single German employee or BMW representative is on location to monitor build quality standards.
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