The BMW Group’s San Luis Potosi plant began operations in 2019 and began production of the 3 Series Sedan before the 2 Series Coupé hit the assembly line a few years later. It is also where the M2 G87 was manufactured exclusively after the decision to move production out of the Leipzig (Germany) factory following the discontinuation of the F87 generation.
The plant looks to have a bright future, as Mexican Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrado announced on Friday that BMW intends to invest heavily. This follows a similar statement made the day before Ebrado and president Andrés Manuel Lopez Obrador revealed that the Bavarian automaker intends to spend around 800 million euros on his BMW Group plant SLP. It follows. At current exchange rates, the investment would be approximately $867 million.
Neither the president nor the foreign minister went into detail about the purpose of the investment, but BMW said: Reuters“The president has asked us to accelerate our investments in our country. He has already announced a very significant investment in San Luis Potosi by BMW,” Ebrard said.
In mid-December 2022, local media reports said BMW had decided to postpone its decision to build a new battery plant in Mexico. It’s unclear if the newly announced investment is related, but if so, the battery factory could assemble round cells for next-generation EVs on the Neue Klasse platform.
BMW has already announced plans to invest $1 billion in Spartanburg to build at least six electric SUVs on the Neue Klasse architecture by the end of 2010. Another $700 million will be spent to build a battery factory nearby.
The first plant to manufacture NE-based electric vehicles will be at the new Debrecen facility in Hungary, where BMW is building a battery plant. From 2026, EVs with the new infrastructure will start leaving the assembly line from the Munich plant.
Source: Reuters