As BMW continues to increase its chances in the world’s largest new energy vehicle market, the German luxury automaker will invest more than $1 billion in its power battery production facility’s expansion in China, as per CnEVPost.
The carmaker will significantly expand power battery production at its production base in Shenyang, in northeast China. It signed a contract with the local government on November 11, per the news release Saturday (November 12).
BMW Brilliance invests about $1.4 billion
BMW Brilliance, BMW’s joint venture in China, invests in the new power battery project, amounting to about 10 billion yuan ($1.4 billion) total investment.
Notably, the project is BMW Brilliance’s other significant investment after the total investment of 15 billion yuan in the Lydia plant.
The project is in the Sino-German (Shenyang) High-End Equipment Manufacturing Industrial Park in Shenyang Economic and Technological Development Zone. Additionally, it follows the BMW iFACTORY production strategy.
“It will significantly increase BMW’s power battery production capacity in China, laying the foundation for a new phase of BMW’s electrification development and further advancing the BMW Group’s latest technologies in China,” according to the press release.
During his visit to China with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on November 4, BMW Group chairman Oliver Zipse stated that China would remain BMW’s one of the most strategic markets.
New battery project verifies BMW’s long-term commitment to the Chinese market
The manufacturer stated that the launch of the new battery project stands with the company’s long-term commitment to the Chinese market.
Notably, in January 2017, BMW Brilliance saw its power battery center’s opening, making the company the first luxury carmaker to build a power battery center in China.
And in September 2020, the power battery center’s second phase opened, making it the automaker’s first global production site for fifth-generation power batteries, more than twice the first phase’s capacity.
In August 2021, the battery plant saw the 100,000th power battery lay out the production line, set to be equipped with the fully-electric BMW iX3.
BMW continues to expand production footprint
This 2022, the company continues its production footprint expansion in Shenyang, with the product upgrade project’s completion at BMW Brilliance’s Dadong plant in April and, in June, the official opening of the Lydia plant in Shenyang.
