BMW announced on Friday it will invest 20 billion RMB ($2.8 billion) to expand a production facility in the northeastern Chinese city of Shenyang, as the German auto major aims to begin assembling its upcoming “Neue Klasse” electric vehicles locally in 2026. The amount, which brings BMW’s total investment in its largest manufacturing hub to 105 billion RMB ($16.154 billion), represents an acceleration of the company’s efforts to prepare for greater EV demand in China, where domestic manufacturers continue to capture market share from their global rivals. Construction of a 10 billion RMB ($1.538 billion) battery plant in Shenyang is also underway, which is set to begin operation with 2,000 new jobs in 2026. BMW reported a 138% YoY surge in sales to nearly 100,000 EVs in China last year, which accounted for nearly a third of its total EV sales worldwide.