German luxury car manufacturer BMW announced this morning that it plans to open its second assembly plant in Shenyang, China, in a joint-venture with local automaker Brilliance Automotive.
The plant will more than double BMW’s Chinese assembly capacity, which is currently at about 41,000 annually.
“Our plant has reached its capacity limit, so we are now taking the next step,” said BMW Chief Financial Officer Friedrich Eichiner in a prepared statement. “The decision to build a second plant demonstrates that we are investing in our future in China and that we intend to participate in the strong growth in the Chinese market.”
BMW is hoping to further tap into the lucrative Chinese market by producing more vehicles domestically. The automaker’s sales are up 37 percent in China so far this year, to 71,952 cars in the first 10 months.
Construction on the new plant will break ground next year and the automaker hopes to have it up and running by early 2012. BMW plans to hire about 1,000 more workers to help assemble its vehicles. Currently, it produces its 3-Series and 5-Series models in China, although it’s unclear if production of those will simply be expanded or if BMW will begin building a third variant.
