BMW to invest around $870 mln in Mexico in EV push

STORY: German automaker BMW said on Friday it will invest 800 million euros - that's 866 million US dollars - in central Mexico to produce high-voltage batteries.

It will also make its fully electric "Neue Klasse" (noya klassa) models here, in the central state San Luis Potosi (San loo-is pot-oh-see)

The expansion, set to add around 1,000 new jobs to its Mexico operations, is BMW's latest push into electric vehicles.

The carmaker is looking to convert more than half of its sales into all-electric cars by 2030.

The head of the plant is Harald Gottsche.

"We will start building, constructing the extensions and the new battery assembly in the beginning of 2024, and we will start (to ramp up) production at the beginning of 2027."

More than half of the funds to be invested in Mexico - 500 million euros - are earmarked for the battery assembly center on the carmaker's existing plant grounds.

Some 500 additional employees will work there.

Another 500 jobs will be created in other areas.

The remaining 300 million euros will go to adapting and extending the body shop and building a new assembly line to install the battery packs, BMW said.

The announcement follows several other major expansions from the automaker in recent months, including a 1.7 billion dollar investment in the United States