BMW invests 870 million in electric vehicles in Mexico
2023.02.06 14:24
BMW invests 870 million in electric vehicles in Mexico
By Kristina Sobol
Budrigannews.com – The German automaker BMW (BMWG.DE) announced on Friday that it will invest 866 million euros in the central Mexican state of San Luis Potosi to produce fully electric “Neue Klasse” models and high-voltage batteries.
BMW’s latest push into electric vehicles (EVs) is the expansion, which is expected to create around 1,000 new jobs at its operations in the Mexican state. The company said it wants to convert more than half of its sales by 2030 into all-electric vehicles.
According to BMW, approximately 500 additional employees will be employed at the battery assembly center on the existing plant grounds, which will receive more than half of the 500 million euros that will be invested in Mexico.
It stated that additional areas will see the creation of 500 new jobs.
According to plant head Harald Gottsche, the remaining 300 million euros will be used to modify and expand the body shop as well as construct a new assembly line for installing the battery packs.
He stated:
“We will begin building, constructing the extensions and the new battery assembly at the beginning of 2024, and we will begin (to ramp up production) at the beginning of 2027.”
The automaker has made a number of other significant expansions in recent months, including an investment of $1.7 billion in the United States and a two-billion-euro effort to construct an EV factory in Hungary.
The Hungarian plant has been touted as BMW’s first completely fossil-free facility. Gottsche added that the Mexico plant was converting natural gas to biomethane and increasing on-site solar production.
Gottsche stated, “We want to beat the Hungary plant, of course.”
To lessen their contribution to climate change, manufacturers around the world are moving toward more stringent environmental regulations.
Mexico has also been pushing for EVs more and more as it aims to make half of its cars electric by 2030.
Gottsche stated that BMW’s sales in Mexico were already 30 percent hybrid or entirely electric, despite the doubts of some industry leaders regarding that objective.
Gottsche stated, “We will need much more renewable energy” to switch.
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