The car and motorcycle manufacturer BMW wants to set up even more car production in the important Chinese market in the future.

The city off-road vehicle (SUV) X5 will no longer only roll off the assembly line in the USA in Spartanburg (South Carolina), but also in the People's Republic, as a spokesman for the Munich Dax group confirmed on Monday evening.

The Handelsblatt had previously reported on it.

The SUV models of the X series were previously manufactured without exception in the US plant, but BMW is now also building several of the profitable models in China and, for example, the X3 in South Africa.

The X5 so far only came from the United States.

China is the Group's largest single market, as is the case with the other German car groups Volkswagen (VW) and Daimler.

In the first nine months of the year, BMW sold almost 670,000 of a good 1.9 million cars from all of its brands in China - that's slightly more than every third car.

The fact that BMW wanted to have more SUV models manufactured in China had long been an open secret.

The production follows demand, said the BMW spokesman now. If the company localizes a vehicle version in China, then the group can adapt the model in the country more precisely to Chinese buyer needs - and thus also save any customs barriers between the USA and China, as they played a role especially in the trade dispute from 2018 and on Profits weighed on.

BMW also wants to be the first foreign automaker to take over the majority of the production joint venture with its partner Brilliance in the country from the beginning of 2022.

BMW would then control 75 percent of the joint venture and also consolidate the company in its own group figures.

As the Handelsblatt continued to write, citing corporate groups, an electric version of the BMW 3 Series is also to be manufactured exclusively in the country.

The spokesman did not want to comment on this information with reference to "speculation".

Daimler is now also planning to take over the majority in the Chinese joint venture BBAC, which is operated together with major shareholder BAIC, said the Handelsblatt, citing corporate circles in Stuttgart.