BMW Group to expand production network in Europe
The BMW Group announced that it will continue to expand its production network in Europe, with a new facility to be built in Hungary, close to the town of Debrecen. The investment of approximately EUR 1 billion (USD 1.17 billion) will have a capacity to produce up to 150,000 units a year and create more than 1,000 new jobs.
The plant in Debrecen will set new standards in digitalisation, sustainability and flexibility. In addition, it will be a technology leader, with innovative solutions for automation, state-of-the-art assistance systems and flexible logistics applications. In keeping with the BMW Group’s principle of the highly flexible production system, the new facility will manufacture conventionally as well as electrically powered vehicles, all on a single production line.
“In the future, every BMW Group plant in Europe will be equipped to produce electrified as well as conventional vehicles. Our new plant in Hungary will also be able to manufacture both combustion and electrified BMW models – all on a single production line. It will bring greater capacity to our worldwide production network. When production commences, the plant will set new standards in flexibility, digitalisation and productivity,” said BMW AG’s Board Member for Production Oliver Zipse.
Europe is the most important market for the BMW Group. In 2017 it accounted for almost 45% of all vehicle sales, with 1.1 million units sold. Up to the end of June 2018, the BMW Group grew in many markets across the continent, with vehicle deliveries totalling more than 560,000 units – a year-on-year rise of 1.2%.
The latest decision to develop the production network follows the BMW Group’s strategic principle of balanced global growth and represents the next logical step in the implementation of BMW Group Strategy NUMBER ONE > NEXT.
“The BMW Group’s decision to build this new plant reaffirms our perspective for global growth. After significant investments in China, Mexico and the U.S.A., we are now strengthening our activities in Europe to maintain a worldwide balance of production between Asia, America and our home continent,” said Harald Krüger, chairman of the BMW AG Board of Management. “Europe is the BMW Group’s largest production location. In 2018 alone we are investing more than EUR 1 billion in our German sites to upgrade and prepare them for electric mobility.”
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