in the Future, should there be the electric model i4 built, among other things, to make the American manufacturer Tesla competition.
The auto giant BMW invested around 200 million euros for the construction of the fully-electric BMW i4 in its main factory in Munich. The money should be used mainly in buildings, production plants and logistics systems, the company said on Tuesday. Currently are manufactured in the Munich plant, with its 8000 employees and vehicles of the 3 – and 4-series. For the construction of the new 3-series, which will be delivered in October, were invested in the past three years, more than 700 million euros.
The new Munich plant Manager Robert Engelhorn expects for this year, with almost 170 000 vehicles produced. In the coming year, this number should be increased significantly: “With around 230 000 vehicles by 2019 will be one of the highest-volume years in the history of the plant,” said Engelhorn. The production of the BMW 330e, a so-called Plug-in Hybrid,. The first all-electric four-door coupe i4 to run in the year 2021.
be manufactured in The Munich BMW factory bird’s-eye view – around 230000 vehicles in the coming year. (photo: Peter Kneffel/dpa)
“A fully electric vehicle with a own architecture in the course of production in an existing production system, is a Herculean task,” said Engelhorn. Especially the 500-kilogram battery in the i4 made special claims to the production, in the 90 million Euro to be invested. In the factory more than 1000 robots in the body shop and the Assembly must be rebuilt. In addition, the complex, interlinked production lines must be designed in such a way that, in addition to the new model is also still cars in the series 3, 4 and M4 can be built. The i4 itself is planned as a competitor to the models of the American manufacturer Tesla.
Despite the growing importance of electromobility, it will be in the foreseeable future, not a pure electric vehicle-production in Munich. “We want and need to be flexible to market blurring to respond,” said Engelhorn. So, in the future, forms in the work of all of the drive – in, Hybrid, as well as electric motors and internal combustion engines to be installed. “Maximum flexibility, this is immensely important,” said Engelhorn. To pay possible piece of or planned vehicle characteristics of the i4, the group has made on Tuesday. In spite of the production of the new model at the Munich parent plant will be built, no new jobs. The number of employees will be with the start of series production on a “similar level”, said Engelhorn.
