German luxury car maker BMW is planning to build a new vehicle manufacturing facility at one of the four shortlisted locations in Mexico.
The location for the facility is expected to be finalised by the end of 2012 and BMW plans to manufacture the 3 series cars and one of the carmaker's new front-wheel-drive vehicles, the new 1 series cars.
The facility is expected to commence production in 2016-2017.
Initially, the new facility will have a capacity of manufacturing 40,000-50,000 units during the first year, and it will be increased to 100,000-150,000 units per year at full capacity.
BMW's selection of Mexico as the location for new facility is due to the country's agreements with South and North America and other Asian countries, in addition to the duty-free trade between Europe and Mexico, and Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay and Paraguay.
The new facility will enable the German carmaker to transfer the part of the 3-series production from Germany to Mexico, which will allow it to avoid the economically disturbed euro zone.
