When you’re the world’s biggest automotive luxury car brand, staying on top isn’t easy. BMW is hard at work futureproofing its lineup by setting up no fewer than five new assembly sites for its next-gen batteries. Gen6 cells will be manufactured at the following locations across the world: Debrecen (Hungary), Irlbach-Straßkirchen (Germany), Shenyang (China), Woodruff (US), and San Luis Potosí (Mexico).
A new map provides a better illustration of the work that has been going on behind the scenes. Neue Klasse-based EVs will be the first to use cylindrical cells once production gets going in the latter half of 2025. The iX3 crossover replacement will be assembled at a new factory in Debrecen, Hungary where BMW is also erecting a battery plant. The final buildings are now being completed and will be handed over by the end of the year.
The facility in Irlbach-Straßkirchen in Lower Bavaria will make Gen6 batteries for Neue Klasse cars that’ll be produced in Germany. That tells us the Munich-made electric sedan confirmed for a 2026 launch will utilize batteries from this factory located in Lower Bavaria. Meanwhile, the first pillar for the production hall was erected about a month ago. The facade and roof will be added before the end of the year.
As previously announced, BMW will make Neue Klasse EVs with Gen6 batteries in China. Through its joint venture with Brilliance, the company is going to build cars and their battery packs from 2026. The production hall at the Shenyang site was completed last November. Nowadays, the company is busy setting up the machinery.
As for the BMW Group Plant Woodruff, work commenced in June 2023 and should be finalized at some point in 2026. The battery packs will then go into fully electric cars assembled in Spartanburg, South Carolina. BMW doesn’t say these EVs will be built on the Neue Klasse platform. That fuels rumors about plans for iX5, iX6, and iX7 electric SUVs on the CLAR platform. In other words, Gen6 batteries are highly unlikely to be exclusive to the NK architecture.
Come 2027, BMW will make Neue Klasse-based electric cars in Mexico. These will get battery packs from a new assembly plant that has been under construction since May this year. When it’s done, it’ll cover more than 80,000 square meters. The existing San Luis Potosí vehicle plant is also upgrading its body shop along with the assembly and logistic areas.
We’ll remind you next-gen batteries will increase energy density by 20 percent. Charging speed is set to go up by as much as 30 percent. In addition, BMW touts a 30 percent boost in range compared to the prismatic cells currently used in Gen5 batteries. Our sources says the all-new iX3 could have enough juice for 800 kilometers (nearly 500 miles) in the WLTP cycle.
Source: BMW
