BMW Confirms i3 And iX3 Production In Mexico Starts In 2027
Article Summary
- The BMW Group is marking the 10th anniversary of laying the foundation stone for its San Luis Potosí plant.
- As part of an €800 million investment, the factory in Mexico is expanding by 110,000 square meters to build the i3 electric sedan and iX3 crossover.
- €500 million will fund a new battery assembly facility for the sixth-generation battery packs with cylindrical cells used by the i3 and iX3.
It’s been a decade since BMW laid the foundation stone for its San Luis Potosí plant. However, production didn’t begin until 2019, when the first 3 Series Sedan (G20) rolled off the assembly line. In 2021, the 2 Series Coupe (G42) joined it, followed by its spicy M2 (G87) derivative in 2023. Next year, the first electric vehicles will roll off the assembly line at the company’s factory in Mexico.
Following an €800 million investment, BMW has now revealed the EVs it will build in San Luis Potosí. The i3 Sedan and iX3 will be produced in standard-wheelbase guise, while their stretched counterparts will be built in China. To support their arrival, the company is expanding the Mexican plant by more than 110,000 square meters. Upgrades are currently underway in key areas such as the body shop, assembly, and logistics.
A significant portion of that investment is going into a new battery assembly plant. BMW is spending €500 million on a facility spanning more than 80,000 square meters to build Gen6 battery packs. The EVs will use cylindrical cells, delivering a 20% increase in energy density compared with the Gen5 prismatic cells.
The Fourth BMW Factory To Build Neue Klasse EVs
San Luis Potosí will become one of four BMW Group plants to build Neue Klasse vehicles on the dedicated platform. It’ll join an exclusive list alongside Debrecen, Munich, and Shenyang. The Spartanburg-made iX5 is considered a Neue Klasse model, but it shares its CLAR platform with the combustion-engine X5 variants. The same applies to the recently facelifted i7 built in Dingolfing, while next year’s iX7 will also use the multi-energy architecture.
BMW hasn’t specified whether the i3 and iX3 built in Mexico will be exported to the United States. Meanwhile, deliveries of the Debrecen-built crossover will begin in the U.S. this fall, with the Munich-built sedan to follow next year. All signs point to the iX4 reaching North America as well, while the i3 Touring remains a definite maybe for now.
It would make sense for BMW to build the next-generation 3 Series Sedan in San Luis Potosí, given that the plant was originally designed for its predecessor. The G50 should debut in the coming months, and for the first time ever, the 3 Series will no longer be built in Munich. Production of the eighth-generation sports sedan will instead take place in Dingolfing.
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