Munich (dpa) – German carmaker BMW said it plans to build a new factory near the Hungarian town of Debrecen, creating 1,000 jobs, at a projected cost of more than 1 billion euros (more than 1.2 billion dollars).
The factory is expected to produce up to 150,000 combustion, electric and hybrid engine vehicles per year, the company announced on Tuesday.
There is no set date for when the plant could begin operations and it is not certain which BMW models will be manufactured there, a spokesman said.
“The BMW Group’s decision to build this new plant reaffirms our perspective for global growth,” said Harald Krueger, the BMW management board chairman.
“After significant investments in China, Mexico and the USA, we are now strengthening our activities in Europe to maintain a worldwide balance of production between Asia, America and our home continent,” he added.
BMW says it will invest more than 1 billion euros in its German sites in 2018, to modernize them and prepare them for electromobility.
BMW’s competitor Audi already builds motors and vehicles in Hungary.