Automotive News Europe — 2024-01-10
Automotive Industry
BMW is investing €650 m ($711 m) to convert its main plant in Munich to exclusively produce EVs from the end of 2027, a major stepping stone in the transition to the electric age.
BMW said it is putting up four buildings including a new vehicle assembly line and body shop, and has moved traditional engine manufacturing to the UK nd Austria, with 1,200 employees retrained or moved to other locations.
Unlike other automakers, BMW has not set its own target for ending production of combustion-engine cars, but is coming up against European Union regulation which effectively bans the sale of new gasoline and diesel cars in the bloc from 2035.
All-electric vehicles made up 15% of BMW's sales in 2023, a ratio it expects to rise to a third by 2026.
BMW's Vision Neue Klasse concept unveiled at the IAA Munich Mobility auto show last September previewed the automaker's next-generation battery-electric vehicles that will launch with a 3 Series-sized sedan and a midsize SUV.
BMW will begin output of the first Neue Klasse cars in 2025 at its new factory in Debrecen, Hungary, followed by production at its Munich plant starting in 2026 in parallel with combustion-engine cars until 2027 when only electric cars will be built.
The overhaul of the Munich factory involves four buildings including a new assembly line and will be completed by the end of 2027, BMW said on Wednesday. The plant, where BMW has been producing cars since 1922, currently makes combustion-engine models, plug-in hybrids and full EVs such as the i4.
BMW says its Neue Klasse EVs will set a "benchmark in terms of range, charging speed and pricing." Their development represents a multibillion-euro effort by BMW to jump the technology gap with competitors such as Tesla and other EV makers.
Neue Klasse cars also will be built at BMW's factory in Shenyang, China, starting in 2026, and at its plant in San Luis Potosí, Mexico, from 2027.
Automakers from Mercedes-Benz to Volkswagen have warned in recent months that EV sales are not developing as fast as expected, with economic pressures weighing on consumers just as supply chain bottlenecks that had held up production began to ease.