BMW will start producing its next-generation of electric vehicles, dubbed Neue Klasse, in the northeast China city of Shenyang in 2026, giving a major boost to its EV product lineup in the world’s biggest light-vehicle market.
The new EV models will be assembled at BMW Brilliance Automotive, its joint venture with Brilliance China Automotive Holdings, a state-owned automaker, BMW said on Thursday.
The German automaker broke ground on a 10 billion yuan ($1.4 billion) plant in Shenyang on Thursday to build BMW’s sixth-generation high-voltage batteries for the new EV models.
BMW Brilliance sells two BMW-badged electric models – the iX3 crossover and the i3 sedan. A third EV product, the iX1 crossover, will be introduced in China later in 2023.
In the first quarter, BMW Group delivered 194,773 vehicles under the BMW and Mini brands in China, a drop of 6.6 percent from a year earlier.
The first-quarter sales tally was composed of 19,800 EVs, a jump of 224 percent, BMW said, without breaking down volume for the two brands.