BMW Brilliance funnels RMB1.759 billion in additional annual capacity of 40,000 iX3s

Shanghai (Gasgoo)- BMW Brilliance Automotive Ltd (BMW Brilliance) was recently permitted by the authority to upgrade the existing assembly line of the BMW X3, which will ramp up annual capacity by 40,000 BMW iX3s (the BEV version of the BMW X3) for the automaker, according to local media. The program involves a total investment of RMB1.759 billion.

With RMB700 million involved, the company will see the program of expanding the power battery assembly workshop start construction from April next year and be put into operation in May 2022. Once the program completed, an additional capacity of 266,400 sets of power battery pack to be applied in the new BMW 3 Series (code-named G28) will be added to BMW Brilliance on an annual basis.

Obviously, BMW Brilliance is speeding up the pace of vehicle electrification. According to the data released by the China Passenger Car Association (CPCA), the Sino-Germany automaker sold 2,961 NEVs in October and 16,317 NEVs from January to October, the only joint venture that was included in the top 10 car makers by Oct. NEV wholesales volume.

It is worth mentioning that BMW Group is the first international carmaker that nabbed a license to deploy ride-hailing service in China. It is a prelude for the Germany premium carmaker to launch ride-hailing services in Chengdu from December 14.

Ride-hailing service is now the major market in which NEVs are largely utilized in spite of the less-than-expected EV range and supporting charging facilities. Thus, gaining a qualification to operate ride-hailing service businesses will help BMW Group climb up on a higher level in NEV domain.