BMW to invest €400 million in the making of iNEXT project

The German automaker is making a handsome investment of €400 million into its Dingolfing, Germany factory for the production of iNEXT model. It is said to be a thoughtful investment with multiple desired outcomes on the cards. The model is fully-electric and will be offered with driver-assisted technologies, Level 3 semi-autonomous driving tech.

Not just this, the funds will help the brand to develop multiple models with different powertrain options on the same assembly line. The production line will be able to produce models like BMW 8 Series, 7 Series and 5 Series alongside the new BMW iNEXT. This means it’ll offer versatility in terms of producing electric, hybrid and combustion engine cars. 

The plant director at Dingolfing, Christoph Schröder said, "The BMW iNEXT is more than just a new model. It’s a pioneer for many key automotive innovations, especially autonomous driving.” The new iNEXT project is by no means easy. BMW needed extended space for operations. Additionally, new validation systems and high-performance computers were to be installed for cleaning systems and sensors. 

From the spy images, it can be inferred that it will be a crossover with an upright front featuring the brand’s conventional kidney grille. The size of the grille is unknown at the moment due to camouflage covering. Inside, it will feature a polygonal steering wheel and a curved display screen. The expected all-electric travel range of the iNEXT model is 600 km, which will be good to offer sleepless nights to the rivals. 

It is likely that the model will hit the showrooms sometime in 2021. Though an official word on the same is yet to come. Once launched, it is expected to challenge the likes of the Jaguar I-Pace, Mercedes EQC, Mustang Mach-E and the Audi E-Tron.

It is clear that we are heading towards an automotive future which will be governed by electrified vehicles. Though it is gaining momentum, combustion engines are still in dominance. But with automakers making crazy investments and offering more EVs than ever before, the day isn’t very far when we’d see more cars with electric engines than combustion engines. 

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