BMW’s plant in San Luis Potosí, Mexico is gearing up for production of the company’s next-generation family of EVs: the Neue Klasse. The automaker is building a battery pack assembly line at the facility, and expanding the body shop, assembly and logistics areas. BMW has announced investment of 800 million euros to expand the production site.
BMW will build its Neue Klasse EVs at several worldwide sites—production is to begin at Debrecen in Hungary in late 2025, in Munich in 2026, and in Mexico beginning in 2027. In line with its “local for local” policy, the BMW Group is locating high-voltage battery assembly facilities as close as possible to its vehicle plants. In addition to the site in San Luis Potosí, assembly sites for batteries are also being built in Debrecen, Bavaria, Shenyang, China and South Carolina.
“For our new sixth-generation e-drive alone, we are building five locations on three continents,” explained Milan Nedeljković, Member of the Board of Management of BMW. “Locating battery factories close to vehicle manufacturing makes production more resilient.”
The BMW Group will use its newly developed round cells in the Neue Klasse EVs. According to the company, the new cells will feature 20 percent more energy density than its previous-generation cells, enabling improvements of up to 30 percent in both range and charging speed.
BMW is increasing its use of on-site energy generation at its global locations. “In Mexico, we are planning to expand the photovoltaic systems within the plant, to double the output from the solar panels,” said Nicole Haft-Zboril, Head of Real Estate Management at the BMW Group. “The plan is to generate more than 20 percent of the electricity we need directly on the factory premises.”
Source: BMW
