BMW and SGL building a second production hall for carbon fiber

SGL Carbon SE and BMW announced today their partnership in building a second production hall at a jointly run plant to meet rising demand for carbon fiber. The upcoming BMW i3 and i8 models, as well as M cars, have driven up the demand for carbon-fiber materials and the two companies are planning to keep up with the demand. With the orders for the BMW i3 at 11,000 units already and increasing expectations, BMW is considering a production increase.

“We’re preparing the roll out of carbon fiber material in models beyond the i model range” and the M performance-car unit, Mathias Schmidt, a BMW spokesman, said by phone.

BMW and SGL are investing more than 100 million euros to double carbon fiber production to 6,000 tons a year.