According to foreign media reports, due to the continued spread of the new coronavirus epidemic, BMW announced that its factories in Europe and North America will continue to stop production until April 30. BMW said that as dealership stores will continue to close, market demand is expected to further decrease. "The market will take longer to recover."

                                                                             (Source: BMW official website)

      In mid-March, BMW suspended production at its plants in Europe, Mexico and South Africa. At the end of March, the company suspended production at its Spartanburg plant in the United States, which is the global production center for BMW SUVs. BMW revealed that in Europe, about 80% of its dealers have closed stores; while in the United States, about 70% of its dealers have closed stores.

      BMW said that during the shutdown period, it will prepare for the production of i4 electric cars at the Munich plant. The model is expected to start sales next year, benchmarking the Tesla Model 3 model. In addition, the company will also prepare for the production of the iNext electric SUV at the Dingolfin plant in Germany, and the model will be available next year.

      In the first quarter of this year, BMW's global sales fell by 21%. The market with the largest decline in sales was China, which fell by 31%. Sales in Europe fell by 18%, and sales in the United States fell by 17%. Currently BMW has restarted production in China, and the company said that with the substantial increase in orders, the market began to recover gradually.

      In addition, BMW CEO Oliver Zipse said on April 8 that the company will start producing masks to protect employees and the public from the new crown virus. Zipzer said that in the near future BMW will be able to produce hundreds of thousands of masks every day.

      BMW has donated 100,000 masks from its inventory to the German government. On April 8, the company donated 50,000 masks and 1 million pairs of medical gloves. The company will donate another 1 million masks in the next two weeks. .