Following reports that the over-the-top 2021 BMW X7 will be locally-assembled (CKD) in Thailand, it appears that the luxury SUV will be locally-assembled in Indonesia next.

According to our colleagues over at Autofun, the initial plan was to locally-assemble the BMW X7 in Indonesia in 2020, but the Covid-19 pandemic effectively threw a wrench into the works. That said, BMW’s Indonesian arm has confirmed that local assembly work for the X7 will commence this year.

"The BMW X7 occupies the highest hierarchy in Indonesia, there will be CKD-ed here. Seeing last year's strong demand, the first batch of X7 sold out right away because we also didn't get much quota," said Bay Rianto as Vice President of Sales of BMW Group Indonesia. 

Strong demand for the BMW X7 was the key deciding factor for BMW Indonesia to start local assembly in Indonesia. After all, the initial batch imported (CBU) of the BMW X7 sold out almost immediately.

In addition to coping with demand, local assembly will also allow BMW Indonesia to price the BMW X7 more competitively, as opposed to the imported (CBU) model. The imported model is priced from IDR 2.72 billion.

The BMW X7 will be locally-assembled at Gaya Motor’s facility in Sunter, North Jakarta. Indonesia will be joining Thailand as the other countries to locally-assemble the BMW X7. Prior to that, the BMW X7 is produced exclusively at BMW’s plant in South Carolina, USA.

Closer to home, we understand that BMW Malaysia will also assemble the X7 at Kulim, Kedah, seeing that the flagship BMW 7 Series is already locally assembled here.