BMW will stop building the combustion-powered 3 Series in Mexico and move production of the next-generation G50 sedan to Dingolfing, Germany, from November. The decision ends a seven-year association between the San Luis Potosí plant and the model that opened the factory in 2019.
The shift means the conventionally powered 3 Series will not be produced in Munich for the first time. A company spokesperson told Automotive News that the decision to pull the model from Mexico was taken some time ago and is not connected to tariff disputes.
San Luis Potosí was designed as a flexible plant and has exported the 3 Series to roughly 80 markets. After the 2022 facelift, BMW said US-bound 3 Series models would be built exclusively in Mexico, although some cars continued to come from Munich.
The Mexican factory is now being transformed into a Neue Klasse production site. From 2027 it will build the iX3 and i3, both based on BMW’s dedicated electric platform with Gen6 batteries and motors. BMW is investing €800 million in the conversion, including €500 million for a new battery assembly facility.
The change creates a symmetry for the plant: it began production with a 3 Series and will eventually build an i3, the electric sedan BMW presents as the next-generation interpretation of the 3 Series formula. The nameplates differ, but BMW itself describes the i3 as a 3 Series.
San Luis Potosí will not be idle. Alongside the i3 and iX3, it continues to build the 2 Series Coupé and its M2 counterpart, both expected to remain in production until the end of the decade. The front-wheel-drive 2 Series Active Tourer, built in Leipzig, will be retired at the end of its second generation.
In 2025 the Mexican plant assembled 95,525 vehicles, up 0.3 per cent on the previous year. Dingolfing was far busier despite a 6.1 per cent decline, with 279,553 vehicles built. The German site is responsible for more models, including the 4 Series, 5 Series and i5, 7 Series and i7, and iX. The 8 Series was retired earlier this year, and the iX may follow in a couple of years.
Munich will switch exclusively to electric vehicles at some point in 2027, meaning workers there are also preparing to say goodbye to the 4 Series. For BMW, the relocation of the combustion 3 Series to Dingolfing concentrates conventional sedan production in Germany while Mexico takes on a central role in the company’s electric future.