BMW has announced it will keep production of its all-electric, zero-emission iNext flagship in Germany.
The iNext, planned to be BMW’s first production car with Level 3 ('eyes-off') self-driving capability, will be built at BMW’s plant in Dingolfing, an hour north-east of Munich, starting in 2021.
BMW released a statement insisting that Dingolfing was chosen because it and the neighbouring Landshut engine plant are its core competence centres for electric motors and high-voltage batteries.
The decision to keep production of the BEV (Battery Electric Vehicle) limousine close to the Munich mothership in Bavaria will come as a blow to Leipzig, the east-German city that hosts production of the i8 coupe and both the range-extender and pure BEV versions of the i3.
While Leipzig is BMW’s newest factory, the Dingolfing plant is no stranger to electrified powertrains, with BMW spending $AU150 million in the factory in recent years just to cope with the expertise and equipment needed to assemble high-voltage cars. The plant already builds the 5 Series and 7 Series and their plug-in hybrid variants.
The Leipzig plant built 340,000 cars last year to account for almost 15 per cent of BMW’s total production and will play a key role in BMW’s plans to lift sales of its electrified cars to 100,000 cars this year, up from 62,000 BEVs and hybrids in 2016.
While the iNext will be BMW’s first Level 3 autonomy car, BMW insists it will have all the hardware it needs to deliver Level 4 self-driving and will await only upgraded software and developments from key suppliers MobilEye and Intel.