The BMW Group is to invest more than €300 million in its Leipzig plant. Comprehensive construction work to extend and update the body and paint shops, assembly and logistics is already under way, laying the foundation for continued growth and the production of future models in Leipzig.
The main focus of activities at the plant is to increase annual production capacity by approx. 100,000 units, from the current 250,000 to about 350,000 p.a. in 2020. Production of BMW i models will rise much earlier, in autumn of this year, from 130 to 200 units a day to meet the welcome growth in demand.
The BMW Group is currently preparing all of its plants to integrate fully electric vehicles into their existing structures so that they can produce combustion-powered, hybrid and fully electric vehicles simultaneously.
BMW Group Plant Leipzig is no exception. Here, pioneering work has already reinvented and revolutionised the manufacture of electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles, leading to the launch of BMW i3 production in 2013, followed by the BMW i8 in 2014 and the BMW i8 Roadster in March 2018. Meanwhile, classic production at the site has been consistently extended throughout. Leipzig’s years of expertise in the field of electric vehicle production is now being rolled out across the BMW Group’s global production system.
“We are taking the invaluable knowledge from Plant Leipzig to facilities across our production network. Current production of the BMW i3 and BMW i8, in independent structures, will continue unaffected. Over the longer term, Leipzig will gradually develop further, capitalising on the opportunities of digitalisation and becoming more flexible to enable vehicles with any type of powertrain to be produced together on a single assembly line,” Plant Director Hans-Peter Kemser explained.
