The future of BMW electric cars is in the hands of a Bavarian town, where the possibility of building a battery factory by the manufacturer is being debated, at a time when German industry must modernize to avoid decline. In Strasskirchen, a quiet town an hour and a half from Munich, some 2,700 voters are asked this Sunday to vote for or against the creation of a megafactory for the Bavarian automobile giant.
The project serves as a sign that German industry is going through a period of crisis, facing high energy costs and depleting order books from abroad. Added to this are increasingly stricter regulatory requirements and more attractive subsidies offered elsewhere, particularly in the United States, which are vectors that push entrepreneurs to review their “made in Germany” establishments.
BMW, for its part, intends to “invest several hundred million euros” in this factory “at the heart of the development of electric vehicles in Germany,” says Alexander Kiy, project manager for the manufacturer’s factory in Strasskirchen. Ultimately, the planned site will employ more than 3,200 people and deliver 600,000 high-voltage batteries per year, which will then be installed in new electric models coming out of the Bavarian factories in Regensburg, Munich and Dingolfing, the largest European car plant. from BMW.
Arable land
Suffice it to say that a rejection of the project on Sunday would seriously compromise the planned launch around 2025 of the X3 manufacturer’s new range of electric vehicles. Because batteries are large and heavy, their production plants must be located as close as possible to vehicle assembly lines. BMW is already applying this strategy in its factories abroad, in Hungary, the United States, Mexico and China.
The municipality of Strasskirchen was chosen because it also met this proximity criterion. But a part of the residents opposes the automobile giant, fearing that their rural territory, south of the Danube and the Bavarian Forest, will become an industrial zone, with an increase in road traffic. “More than 100 hectares of prime arable land would be destroyed forever,” a mistake “from the perspective of climate change,” says Thomas Spötzl, 44, spokesman for a movement that wants to stand up to BMW.
On the contrary, the manufacturer offers “an immense opportunity for the region to invest in sustainable technologies and jobs of the future,” responds Martin Götz, 45, a native of Strasskirchen and spokesman for an association that supports the factory construction project. The two sides have been tearing each other apart for months.
Reluctance
“For Bavaria, and for all of Germany, it must still be possible to create a large industrial center of this type,” says Armin Soller, mayor of the neighboring town of Irlbach, also affected by the BMW project. But “there is a clear reluctance to create industrial plants in Germany,” underlines Milan Nedeljkovic, a member of BMW management responsible for production. However, the country “needs a commitment to economic growth, especially in times of energy and digital transformation,” he adds.
However, in recent months several large industrial projects have been announced in Europe’s largest economy, including semiconductor manufacturing plants backed by global leaders in the sector. Chancellor Olaf Scholz has recently asked regions, municipalities and even the parliamentary opposition to support a “German pact” to make the country more agile, dynamic and less bureaucratic, but this has not really convinced economic circles.
“We need a global concept that guarantees the maintenance of our competitiveness and our locations,” Arno Antliz, financial director of the giant Volkswagen, told reporters in Frankfurt on Monday.
A few days before the referendum, the mayor of Strasskirchen, Christian Hirtreiter, wants to believe that “the mood is now clearly in favor of BMW.” In the event of a favorable vote on Sunday, BMW will counter a movement of company defections in the canton. Thus, in July, a paper factory in the neighboring industrial area of Plattling, with 500 employees, announced its closure. The reason has been cited as high energy costs.
Source: BFM TV
