BERLIN -- German carmaker BMW announced on Thursday it will launch the first all-electric 3 Series car exclusively for the Chinese market in May 2022.

The BMW i3 eDrive35L, to be built at BMW Brilliance Automotive Ltd's plant in Shenyang of Northeast China's Liaoning province, is the "perfect fit for the particular requirements" of the Chinese market, the company said.

Compared to the standard 3 Series model, the car's wheelbase is 11 centimeters longer. In addition, the BMW OS8 operating system as well as digital features such as high-end connectivity are to be built in the model series for the first time.

In 2021, global sales of the BMW Group, which includes the brands Rolls Royce and MINI, increased by 8.4 percent to more than 2.52 million units, with the BMW brand setting a new sales record of 2.2 million units.

In China, the company's biggest single market, total vehicle sales increased by 8.9 percent year-on-year. With 847,935 BMW and MINI vehicles delivered, the group posted a new sales record in the country for the second year in a row.