In an effort to boost electric vehicle production, BMW has announced production plans with an investment of 15 billion yuan ($2.24 billion) at a new plant in China.
The car assembly facility, Lydia, is said to have been located in the city of Shenyang, Liaoning province.
BMW stated that the Lydia plant is developed with a 'flexible' assembly line, so that it can easily produce battery-powered electric cars as per the market demand.
The first model to be produced in Lydia will be the i3, a pure electric mid-sized sports sedan, which according to the German company will expand the range of its EV models to thirteen in 2023 for customers in China, CNA reported.
The reason why the East Asian country was chosen by BMW, is said to have been the thriving EV market in China with sales from last year reporting a twofold hike in the auto business. However, the business remains hugely dominated by the Chinese car maker BYD and Tesla.
According to data from China Association of Automotive Manufactures, this year the country reported one fourth of its auto sale to battery powered cars.
With a 9.2% fall from last year and only 208,507 vehicles sold in China, in the first quarter, through this project BMW is set to expand its annual output in the world's biggest auto market from 700,000 in 2021 to 830,000 in 2022.
