BMW has announced that it will build a new, €1 billion (£890 million) factory in Debrecen, Hungary, as it expands its European production.

The plant will have the capacity to produce up to 150,000 cars per year. It will employ over 1000 people and produce BMW-badged models.

It brings the brand’s number of global factories to 18, with 13 of those in Europe. This makes sense, given that Europe takes nearly half of all BMW Group sales.

It’s not yet been announced which models will be produced at the plant, but, given that BMW has factories in the US and Asia, it’s likely that the plant will cater for European demand.

BMW Group boss Harald Krüger said: “The BMW Group’s decision to build this new plant reaffirms our perspective for global growth. After significant investments in China, Mexico and the US, we're now strengthening our activities in Europe to maintain a worldwide balance of production between Asia, America and our home continent.

"Europe is the BMW Group’s largest production location. In 2018 alone, we're investing more than €1 billion in our German sites to upgrade and prepare them for electric mobility.”

The Hungarian plant will be futureproofed by being compatible with production of electrified cars as well as conventional models, said BMW production boss Oliver Zipse.

It’s the start of an initiative to make every BMW Group factory capable of producing electrified cars," said Zipse, "as the global car industry makes the switch to electrification.

"It will bring greater capacity to our worldwide production network. When production commences, the plant will set new standards in flexibility, digitalisation and productivity."

It hasn't yet been announced when the first cars are expected to roll out of the plant.