BMW has announced that the brand is making ‘Systematic Transformation’ toward electromobility with an investment plan of EUR 400 million in new assembly for the plant in Munich. The brand also announced that the fixed costs have been reduced by half a billion Euros by the end of the coming year. The brand will be retooling its main plant in Munich to strengthen its global network for the production of electrified vehicles.
The EUR 400 Million investment will be made between now and 2026 is followed by the expansion of body shop and the development of a new resource-efficient paint shop between 2016 and 2018. The new assembly in Munich will be built in the site which currently does engine production and the four, six, eight and 12 cylinder internal combustion engine produced at Plant Munich will therefore be manufactured at the BMW’s production facilities in Steyr, Austria and Hams Hall in the UK. The brand has also announced that the engine production will be relocated from Munich in steps before the end of 2024.
BMW also announced that the brand’s Chinese plant in Dadong has commenced production on the BMW iX3 electric vehicle this year and from the next year, the BMW i4 and BMW iX will start rolling off the production lines in Munich and Dingolfing respectively. The brand also announced that the fully-electric version of the BMW 7-series and the BMW 5 Series is ready to go into production at the Dingolfing production plant. The company will also increase the number of employees to 2,000 from the current 1,000 at the Dingolfing production facility. Also, all German plants will produce at least one fully electric vehicle by the end of 2022.
BMW also boasts to have one of the most flexible production systems in the automotive industry worldwide and has the capability to produce vehicles with both internal combustion engines and electric powertrains on a single line. The decision to build a new assembly unit the almost 100-year-old Munich plant will also create industrial jobs in the city.
While Germany unveils a EUR 3 Billion scheme to promote low emission vehicles, Britain is planning to completely axe internal combustion engine cars by the end of 2030.
