BMW will unveil a brand new automobile later this yr that might be constructed at its plant in South Carolina, Chairman Oliver Zipse informed CNBC.
The Spartanburg plant at the moment produces the BMW X3, X4, X5, X6 and X7 in addition to efficiency fashions of many of the autos.
“On the finish of the yr, we are going to make an announcement to construct one other high-end automobile from this manufacturing website,” Zipse informed CNBC’s Phil LeBeau on “Squawk Field.” “It isn’t a successor mannequin, it is a brand-new mannequin, high-end for the American market but in addition for the world market.”
BMW at the moment exports about 70% of the autos it produces on the U.S. plant, Zipse stated. He declined to reveal different particulars of the brand new automobile.
Auto intelligence agency LMC Automotive expects BMW to start producing a brand new crossover referred to as the X8 on the plant beginning subsequent yr. The automobile is anticipated to be a two-row automobile based mostly off BMW’s present three-row X7.
Zipse stated the corporate “totally helps” the Biden administration’s objective to have half of the auto business’s gross sales be electrical autos by 2030. However he stated that objective won’t be achieved with at the moment’s EV charging infrastructure.
“With at the moment’s infrastructure, we won’t get there, however after all we now have 10 years time to construct up collectively an infrastructure for charging wants, and so forth,” he stated. “And I feel with the infrastructure objectives which the Biden administration set, I feel there is a good alternative to a minimum of come very near that market.”
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