First electric BMW iX3 rolls off China factory line

The first fully electric BMW iX3 has left the production line at the BMW Brilliance Automotive joint venture (BBA) in Shenyang, China.

Deliveries begin before the end of 2020.

The workforce at the BBA Plant Dadong in Shenyang had already celebrated the successful start of production on September 29.

“With a production system like this, specialised for high quality, we are able to deliver what customers worldwide demand from premium vehicles,” BBA technology and production division head Franz Decker says.

As well as intelligent manufacturing and state-of-the-art technologies, the BBA production facility in Shenyang is also distinguished by its comprehensive quality management system.

A special “zero defect concept” ensures that the globally high market requirements for electric mobility are met.

BBA does rigorous testing of everything from the battery to the finished car to guarantee the vehicle safety of the BMW iX3.

About 128 mechanical tests and 994 software functionality tests ensure the high quality of high-voltage batteries throughout the entire lifecycle.

Some 140 functional tests check every aspect of the vehicle during acceleration, in particular road conditions and on rocky roads.

As a result, the BMW iX3 is well-suited for all types of roads and meets the high demands of different driving conditions, BMW says.

BBA produces the fully electric BMW iX3 on the same line as the BMW X3 with combustion engine to ensure a high level of efficiency and flexibility in production.

The BMW iX3 has a 0.0 l/100km combined fuel consumption, a 17.8-17.5kWh/100km combined power consumption and zero CO2 emissions combined.

Meanwhile, BMW Group has posted solid year-on-year sales growth of 8.6% in the third quarter, with a total of 675,680 vehicles delivered to customers.

As expected, the sales performance from January to September reflects the global impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the company selling 1,638,316 (-12.5%) premium BMW, Mini and Rolls-Royce vehicles worldwide during this period.

“Thanks to our strong model line-up, we were able to increase our third-quarter sales year-on-year, despite the lasting effects of the coronavirus pandemic,” BMW AG management board member for customer, brand and sales Pieter Nota says.

“We are especially pleased with the sales growth of almost 50% in electrified vehicles. This makes electromobility a substantial growth driver. We have already delivered around 10,000 fully electric Minis since the start of the year.”

The BMW Group delivered a total 116,381 (20.0%) BMW and Mini electrified vehicles to customers in the first nine months of the year. With 54,719 units delivered in the third quarter, the company sold 46.6% more electrified vehicles than in the same period of the previous year.

The new plug-in hybrid (PHEV) variants of the BMW X2, BMW 3 Series and BMW 5 Series underscore the BMW Group’s leading role in the premium electrified segment in Europe and worldwide.

Next year, the group will produce the fully electric BMW i4 and the BMW iNext.

The company plans to have more than seven million electrified vehicles on the roads by 2030 – two thirds of them all electric.