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BMW Ups the Ante in China with Huge Investment Plan

For about 15 years, BMW has been manufacturing cars in China together with local partner Brilliance China Automotive Holdings. But up until now, BMW, as did all other foreign carmakers conducting business in the country, it was unable to fully control the joint venture.
BMW iX3 to be manufactured in China only 21 photos
Photo: Stefan Baldauf / Guido ten Brink
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After the 50 percent cap on the stakes owned by foreign companies in China was lifted earlier this year, BMW jumped at the occasion and announced on Thursday an investment meant to cement its hold on the world’s largest auto market.

The Germans said they would be increasing their stake in the BMW Brilliance Automotive joint venture to 70 percent, and at the same time invest a total of 3 billion EUR over the following years in new plants, new cars, and new manufacturing processes.

As part of the agreement reached with Brilliance, BMW will also extend the contract with the Chinese until 2040.

“We are consistently following our growth strategy for China. With continuous investment, as well as the development and production of electric vehicles, we underline China’s importance as a dynamic growth market for us,” said in a statement Harald Krüger, BMW chairman of the board.

“Our success story goes hand in hand with the success of the joint venture BBA. Together with our partners, we contribute to the sustainable development of the Chinese market.”

The money to be invested by BMW will go into the build of a new assembly facility and large-scale expansion of the existing ones. In all, production over the following period is to increase to 650,000 units per year, up from 400,000 in 2017.

BMW currently manufactures cars at two facilities in the Shenyang region: the 1 Series, the 2 Series Active Tourer, the 3 Series and the X1 in Tiexi, and the 5 Series and X3 in Dadong.

The Tiexi facility will double output capacity in the near future in order to accommodate the assembly lines for the iX3 electric vehicle. This plant will be the only one making this car for the global markets.
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About the author: Daniel Patrascu
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Daniel loves writing (or so he claims), and he uses this skill to offer readers a "behind the scenes" look at the automotive industry. He also enjoys talking about space exploration and robots, because in his view the only way forward for humanity is away from this planet, in metal bodies.
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