The BMW iNEXT which BMW has been planning to fight against the Tesla Model Y and possibly Model 3 has not had too much recent news, but don’t fret as the project is moving along with BMW announcing an investment of €400 million towards the production of the electric crossover.
The investment will go towards BMW’s Dingolfing Plant, one of their largest factories producing nearly 330,000 vehicles a year. The plant covers almost the entire BMW lineup as it produces the 3 Series, 4 Series, 5 Series, 6 Series, 7 Series, and 8 Series.
The plant will however not be fully converted to an electric car factory like Volkswagen has been doing with some of their factories. Instead, the iNEXT will be produced alongside other vehicles in the BMW lineup which might not be electric.
Milan Nedeljkovic, member of the Board of Management BMW AG, stated:
“Thanks to our flexible production structures, our plants are ideally equipped to meet the most diverse market needs. We firmly believe that, over the next few years, there will be more than just one solution worldwide for all our customers’ mobility needs. Instead, we expect to see a mix of different drive technologies.”
The Dingolfing Plant already has 10 percent of its production dedicated to plug-in hybrids, so electric powertrains are not a completely foreign concept to the works of the plant.
Dingolfing Plant Director Christoph Schröder, added:
“The BMW iNEXT is more than just a new model. It’s a pioneer for many key automotive innovations, especially autonomous driving. It is also paving the way for further rollout of these technologies over the coming years. The current structural measures for the iNEXT will also benefit other models built in Dingolfing in the future.”
Preparations have already begun as the plant had its production interrupted for four weeks in August to allow for the necessary renovation groundwork to be done.
Unfortunately, we did not get any additional information about the BMW iNEXT as the final design and specifications are still a mystery to us. Rumors say that there will be 3-4 versions of the iNEXT with batteries ranging from 63 kWh to 115 kWh with the highest version promising a range of at least 360 miles. Unfortunately, we will continue to wait and see as BMW themselves have not announced a reveal date either.
2021 is shaping up to be a great battle for electric crossovers as the BMW iNEXT, Ford Mustang Mach-E, and Tesla Model Y will make their appearances to do battle with one another.
Source: BMW
