BMW has confirmed that it will invest an additional RMB 10 billion ($1.4 billion) towards increasing capacity at a battery plant in China’s northern Liaoning province, reports the South China Morning Post. The German marque said in a statement that it had signed an agreement with the local government to expand the Lydia plant, which makes high-performance batteries for its i3 and iX3 series cars.
The injection of fresh funds was reported last month by state-owned tabloid Global Times, which cited an unidentified BMW official.
The agreement, signed on Friday, comes barely a week after a visit by Olaf Scholz, the German chancellor, to Beijing. It has heightened expectations that more trade and investment deals between China and Germany will be concluded in the coming months.