BMW will invest 400 million euros ($568 million) to set up production of the Megacity electric vehicle at its Leipzig plant.
BMW is planning for the Megacity vehicle to be a sub-brand. As such it will have some design characteristics typical of BMWs but also some new elements.
BMW is not yet saying how many of the Megacity electric vehicles it will produce in Leipzig when the cars go on sale in 2013.
Norbert Reithofer, head of BMW, said in a statement that the car would be “the first production model with a carbon fiber passenger compartment.”
BMW is using carbon fiber, which is 50 percent lighter than steel, to reduce weight and enable a smaller, less costly battery to power the vehicle. BMW and SGL Carbon SE, the world’s biggest manufacturer of carbon and graphite products, are building a $100 million factory in Moses Lake, Washington, to make the material for the Megacity models.
