BMW plans five new global battery plants for Neue Klasse models
BMW has announced plans for five new factories across three continents to produce batteries for its next generation of electric vehicles.
wants to bring cell production closer to the locations where its Neue Klasse cars will be built, as part of a ‘local for local’ manufacturing strategy.
The plans will see two entirely new factories built in Europe as well as new or expanded facilities in China, the US and Mexico.
The much-anticipated Neue Klasse models will be BMW’s next generation of EVs and will be the first BMWs to use all-new cylindrical cells. BMW says these represent a technological leap for the group, offering vastly improved energy density, charging times and range.
Production of the first Neue Klasse cars will begin in Debrecen, Hungary, in 2025 and work is underway on a new state-of-the-art factory that will integrate vehicle and battery production at the same site. BMW has also begun construction of a brand-new factory in Irlbach-Straßkirchen, in Lower Bavaria, which will supply sixth-generation high-voltage batteries to German car plants.
Chinese production of Neue Klasse models will begin in 2026 at the BMW Brilliance Automotive (BBA) factory in Shenyang, China. In preparation for that a new production hall has already been built and the first pre-production cells are expected to roll off the production line in late 2024.
Similarly, work is already underway to expand capacity at BMW’s San Luis Potosí plant in Mexico for batteries and cars ahead of production starting in 2027. And in the US, a new factory – named Plant Woodruff – will supply batteries to the nearby Spartanburg factory, which currently builds the full range of BMW X models.
Cutting the distance between battery and car manufacturing plants offers the dual advantages of reducing the carbon footprint of the car-making process and making production lines less vulnerable to unexpected political or economic events. Several car makers with factories and parts suppliers in eastern Europe were badly affected by the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
