Canadian auto provider Magna International will produce BMW’s brand-new 5-series plug-in hybrid at its Austrian factory, the company stated as part of a strategy to produce electric vehicles on an agreement basis for worldwide automakers.
The BMW 530 plug-in hybrid will be produced starting this summer at Magna’s plant in Graz, Austria, where it currently prepares to produce Jaguar’s I-PACE SUV from early 2018.
Worldwide automakers and their providers are investing greatly in fully-electric and gasoline-electric hybrid cars. Consumer demand is still low against that for gasoline engine vehicles, however companies are starting to use more options to respond to government mandates for higher sales of vehicles that discharge little or no carbon dioxide, and prepare for a future experts believe will be controlled by electric vehicles.
Competing tier-one vehicle provider Continental AG for instance, stated in April it was increasing spending by 300 million euros ($334.68 million) on brand-new products such as charging systems and battery management parts connected to electric vehicles.
Magna, North America’s biggest automotive provider and the third worldwide, is alone among the leading automobile suppliers to carry out contract production for automakers. Its Austrian plant can produce about 200,000 vehicles annually. Magna is presently constructing a new paint store in Slovenia following the rise demand.
A Magna spokeswoman would not talk about a declaration by the Slovenian government in March that the auto provider would possibly invest approximately 1.24 billion euros in the nation, including an automobile plant with capacity of 100,000 to 200,000 vehicles annually.
