BMW, Brilliance JV to expand capacity to 520,000 vehicles in 2019

FRANKFURT: Germany's BMW and its joint venture partner Brilliance Automotive Group Holdings have agreed to expand production capacity at BMW Brilliance Automotive's (BBA) two sites in China to a total 520,000 BMW brand vehicles in 2019, BMW said.

That means that the venture's annual capacity will outstrip that of the German carmaker's US plant in Spartanburg, South Carolina, currently its biggest plant in the world.

In addition, it said the two companies had agreed that the all-electric BMW iX3, to be produced by BBA from 2020, would be exported from China to other markets.

BMW and Brilliance signed their agreement at a meeting of Chinese Prime Minister Li Keqiang and German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin on Monday at which the trade conflict between Europe, China and the United States is high on the agenda.