Automotive manufacturer BMW Group announced today plans to invest €800 million (US$860 million) in a Mexican electric vehicle (EV) production site and battery assembly facility.

In a statement announcing the investment, the company said that is “accelerating its ramp-up of e-mobility,” and could reach its target to have 50% of company-wide sales be EVs by 2030.

BMW set the 2030 goal at its annual meeting in May 2021, alongside a series of sustainability goals including avoiding more than 200 million tonnes of CO2 emissions by 2030 and pledges to focus on circular economy measures in vehicle production and end-of-life.

The plant in San Luis Potosí, Mexico, will produce fully-electric models for BMW’s upcoming next generation of vehicles, NEUE KLASSE, which are expected to launch in 2025. The company has said that the NEUE KLASSE of vehicles will be characterized a completely redefined IT and software architecture, a new generation of high-performance electric drivetrains and batteries, and a radically new approach to sustainability across the entire vehicle life cycle.

The new investment in Mexico includes €500 million earmarked for the construction of a new assembly center for high-voltage batteries, spanning an area of 85,000 square meters. The company’s San Luis Potosí plant, which came online in 2019 will be expanded to integrate the NEUE KLASSE vehicles beginning in 2027.

BMW recently announced a $1.7 billion investment to increase its U.S. electromobility capacity, including $1 billion to expand its South Carolina manufacturing facility, Plant Spartanburg, and $700 million to build a new 1 million square foot high-voltage battery assembly facility.

Milan Nedeljković, member of the Board of Management of BMW AG, said:

“We are systematically gearing our production network towards electromobility. In Mexico, we are investing 800 million euros in our plant and creating around 1,000 new jobs.”