(Bloomberg) -- BMW AG will invest €800 million ($872 million) in its San Luis Potosí, Mexico, plant to manufacture electric vehicles, as part of a broader effort to ramp up its global production network.
More than half of the investment will be used to build a new high-voltage battery assembly plant at the site, the German carmaker said Friday, confirming a January announcement of Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador. The expansion will create around 1,000 new jobs with EV production scheduled to start in 2027.
The Mexican plant will produce EVs based on BMW's “Neue Klasse” underpinnings — a new platform that is central to the company's efforts to take on Tesla Inc., which continues to dominate global EV sales. BMW aims to cut cell costs by half and increase range and charging speed by 30% compared to current models.
The first “Neue Klasse” models will be produced by the end of 2025 in BMW's factory in Debrecen, Hungary, where the carmaker recently doubled investments to €2 billion.
In October, BMW said it would invest $1.7 billion in its manufacturing hub in South Carolina to produce EVs for domestically for the US market. The company expects at least half of its sales to be fully electric vehicles by 2030, but has indicated that target could be reached earlier.
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