BMW recently announced that Plant Spartanburg wouldn’t be the only North American plant receiving a substantial investment for the production of Neue Klasse electric vehicles. Plant San Luis Potosí in Mexico joins the fold to ramp up BMW EV vehicle and battery production with an 800-million-euro (or 16.4-billion-peso) infusion.
In addition to increasing Plant San Luis Potosí’s workforce with 1,000 new jobs and upgrading the plant’s infrastructure to produce EVs, a local high-voltage battery assembly facility is to be constructed. This should sound familiar as the October 2022 announcement for Plant Spartanburg also included creating new jobs, upgrading infrastructure, and building a local battery assembly facility. BMW sees no reason to diverge from a perfectly good playbook—it works.
BMW reports that with the new investment at Plant San Luis Potosí, “the share of 50 percent of the company’s worldwide sales of fully electric vehicles could be reached earlier than 2030.” Timelines are moving up, which Milan Nedeljković, member of the Board of Management of BMW AG responsible for Production at the plant in Mexico, lays out for us: “The first cars of the Neue Klasse will come off the production line at our plant in Debrecen, Hungary, starting in 2025, followed by the main plant in Munich. We will achieve additional volumes by integrating the NEUE KLASSE at Plant San Luis Potosí from 2027 onwards.”
Harald Gottsche, President & CEO at BMW Group Plant San Luis Potosí, adds, “With this new investment, our plant in San Luis Potosí will play a central role in BMW Group’s transition to electromobility. The company is increasing its commitment to Mexico and its stake in our facility, not only due to its strategic location but, above all, to a solid work team, which, in less than four years after starting operations, already produces three models that supply 74 global markets and stand out for their quality.” The plant’s workforce of 3,000 currently produces the BMW 3 Series, the 2 Series Coupé, and the new M2.
If your five-year financial plan involves a new BMW EV, there’s a good chance it’ll be coming from either Plant Spartanburg or Plant San Luis Potosí. —Mike Bevels
[Photos courtesy of BMW.]
