BMW to further expand plant in Hungary, doubling planned investment
BMW is doubling its planned investment in an electric vehicle (EV) factory under construction for six months in Debrecen, 124 miles east of Budapest, to over two billion euros, adding a high-voltage battery assembly plant on site. The latter project will absorb EUR 500 million, Reuters reported, but this figure has not been confirmed by other news sites or the company.
Output for both cars and batteries is scheduled to start by the end of 2025. BMW expects to create more than 500 new jobs in Debrecen by then.
BMW plans to churn out 150,000 vehicles annually at Debrecen, which plant will be the carmaker’s first new factory in Europe in over two decades.
Total project costs translate into more than HUF 800 billion, which is the third-largest investment ever in Hungary, said Szijjártó.
The new expansion will receive HUF 13.5 billion in non-refundable subsidy from the Hungarian state,
he added.
The new site will make Hungary the third country in the world, apart from Germany and China, where the three German premium car manufacturers have a plant at the same time, the minister boasted. In addition, the largest South Korean battery manufacturer and the 5th and 6th largest have also brought their European production centres to Hungary, he added.
Hungary already has the 3rd largest battery production capacity in the world, said Szijjártó. We are 5th in exports, with a value of €4 billion, an increase of 61% in one year; electric batteries have become the number one product of Hungarian exports. Ongoing investments will increase the current production capacity of 50 GwH to 150 GwH by 2025, he added.
The strategy of the BMW iFactory in Debrecen aims to minimize logistics distances, thus the company decided to build a high-voltage battery assembly plant on its 400-hectare site to serve the production needs of the fully electric model generation Neue Klasse. Thanks to the project, the batteries of every new BMW model to be built in Debrecen will be assembled on site.
In Debrecen, the next-generation round battery cells will be assembled into a battery housing – a metal frame, which is later integrated into the underbody of the car. The official start of production for the sixth generation (Gen6) high-voltage batteries will be in 2025 – in parallel with the start of vehicle production. All batteries for the vehicles from Plant Debrecen will be assembled on site. The new production facility will extend over an area of about 140,000 square metres.
The battery is decisive for the competitiveness of electric vehicles. With the next generation of batteries for the Neue Klasse, range will improve by up to 30%, and the charging speed will be up to 30% faster.
The plant in Debrecen is central to BMW’s efforts to take on Tesla Inc., which continues to dominate global EV sales.
BMW Group invests billions to produce battery modules in Bavaria, too, given that by 2030 every second new BMW worldwide will be electric.
“In Debrecen, we are building the most advanced plant in the world. With our iFACTORY, we are setting new industry standards for vehicle production," commented Milan Nedeljković, member of the Board of Management of BMW AG, Production.
Our investments underline our systematic approach to implementing e-mobility,
he added
The production value of the Hungarian automotive industry will exceed HUF 10 billion for the first time this year, the minister said.
He also predicted that new investments will help Hungary to stay out of the Western recession.
Árpád Virág: That's a new skirt, isnt' it?
Comrade Gogolák: It is, Comrade Virág.
Árpád Virág: It's too short. Leave the sexuality to be the opium of the declining West.
If you haven't seen 'The Witness', Péter Bacsó's masterpiece yet, you should. Here's its trailer with English subtitles. When you hear Hungarian ministers say something on the lines of 'the declining West' you realise how eerily accurate and future-proof the movie shot in 1969 and banned for a decade remains, and how nothing has really changed in the local political arena ever since.
Debrecen has been at the centre of attention in recent months for foreign investment in our country. A spectacular example is this year's announcement of a €7.34 billion investment by CATL (Contemporary Amperex Technology) in Debrecen, a major deal by European standards. The company is the world's leading manufacturer of batteries for electric vehicles and a major partner of Tesla. The Hungarian plant will mainly serve Mercedes, and is also expected to supply Volkswagen, BMW and Stellantis.
The world’s biggest EV battery maker is already a supplier to BMW from a factory in Erfurt, Germany.
In addition to the CATL investment, other Chinese investments have already started or will start in the near future. Semcorp is building a factory in Debrecen, which will produce lithium-ion separator foils for batteries in e-cars.
And in Miskolc, the foundation stone was laid last year for the Chevron Auto plant, which will produce metal castings, battery housings, battery trays and inverter housings for electric cars. And in June this year, it was announced that Huayou Cobalt, which has a long-term contract with Tesla to supply processed nickel, cobalt and manganese, will build a cathode production plant in Hungary.
Cover photo: Péter Szijjártó's Facebook page
