A matter of little, the announcement of the start of production at the plant finally arrives BMW Group in Dingolfing of the BMW 5 Series and BMW i5.
BMW 5 Series and BMW i5, starting production at the BMW Group plant in Dingolfing, source press office
A new beginning
The new BMW series 5including the brand new BMW i5 fully electric. These celebrate the official start of production at the factory BMW Group di Dingolfing.
Thus, in the presence of President of Bavaria Markus Söder. The establishment of Lower Bavaria, which will celebrate 50 years of BMW automobile production in 2023. Now, it starts production of the third all-electric model in two years, following the BMW iX and the BMW i7.
See you next year
The share of pure battery electric vehicles in total production. Of the BMW Group’s largest European plant it is expected to grow to more than 40% next year.
Milan Nedeljković, Member of the Board of Management of BMW AG Head of Production. He explains in Dingolfing: “The BMW i5 and our Dingolfing plant are perfect examples.
About how the BMW Group is transforming itself for electric mobility. And is developing our plants on the road to the BMW iFACTORY.
BMW 5 Series and BMW i5, starting production at the BMW Group plant in Dingolfing, source press office
Electric mobility is the new normal in our factories around the world. Between 2021 and 2024, we will have integrated a total of 15 fully electric vehicles into our production network.”
New flexible architectures
To achieve this, the BMW Group relies on flexible architectures. And it offers customers all over the world most of its models with different drive variants.
The BMW series 5as the BMW series 7 and the BMW X1 before her. It will be available with an all-electric drivetrain, with an internal combustion engine or as a plug-in hybrid.
This requires a high degree of flexibility. But it allows the company to efficiently use the capacity of its factories.
And to adapt its offer to customer demand. Nedeljković: “We follow the market. Customers’ needs determine the actual transmission mix”. This was made possible by large investments in the production network. The BMW Group has invested more than one billion euros to integrate the BMW iX, the BMW 7 Series and the BMW 5 Series at the Dingolfing plant.
As Dingolfing’s core model, the BMW 5 Series sets new impetus
In the next few years, the director of the plant Christoph Schroeder expects the launch of the new BMW Serie 5 increases the plant’s production numbers: “The BMW 5 Series is traditionally the top model from Dingolfing and this time too it will give a solid boost to volumes.” In 2022, more than 280,000 vehicles rolled off the assembly line at the Dingolfing plant. With the start of production of the BMW 5 Series Touring and the eighth generation of the BMW M5 next year, Schröder expects this number to rise to well over 300,000 vehicles. Stefan Danner, Deputy Chairman of the Dingolfing Works Council, adds: “Together with the successful transition to electric mobility, the BMW 5 Series is crucial for the long-term utilization of our plant’s production capacity and for securing jobs. ”.
BMW 5 Series and BMW i5, starting production at the BMW Group plant in Dingolfing, source press office
50 years of BMW cars in Dingolfing
Gods about 12 million BMW vehicles built at the plant to date, a total of eight million, or two-thirds, are models of the BMW 5 Series. This fact is closely related to the history of the establishment Of Dingolfing. Exactly 50 years agoin September 1973, the first BMW car rolled off the production line at the new plant: a BMW 520i first generation tangerine colored. Since then, the plant in Lower Bavaria has developed into one of the most important locations of the automotive industry and an engine for the economic development of the region. The annual wage cost for Dingolfing’s more than 18,000 BMW employees is over one billion euros, and the plant has contracts with around 1,000 suppliers in Lower Bavaria. In addition to investing in the Dingolfing plant, the BMW Group has invested more than one billion euros since 2015 in the production of components for electric drives.
The vision of the BMW iFACTORY
As with the decision to build the Dingolfing plant during the oil crisis of the early 1970s, the entrepreneurial vision of the BMW Group is still very much present at the site today. Thanks to substantial investments, the Dingolfing plant is extremely well equipped for the future and the transition to BMW iFACTORY it is tangible. The best example of this development in the areas of “lean” and “digital” is the victory of the renowned Automotive Lean Production Award in 2022. The Technology Assembly was awarded, for example, for the introduction of intelligent camera systems for monitoring quality (AIQX), as well as for intelligent logistics solutions and the IPS-i IT platform for object identification and location. Last year, the plant also pioneered factory automated driving (AFW), deploying the new BMW 7 Series along routes between the assembly hall and the finishing area. This system will be extended on a larger scale with the launch of the new BMW 5 Series.
BMW 5 Series and BMW i5, starting production at the BMW Group plant in Dingolfing, source press office
In the field of sustainability – the “green” aspect of the BMW iFACTORY – the site has intensified its activities in several areas in recent years: from promoting biodiversity on plant soils, to preventing and recycling waste so that it only remains around 600 grams of waste to be disposed of for each vehicle produced, up to decarbonisation measures. In addition to the procurement of green energy, the site has also signed a far-reaching contract for the supply of locally produced heat from regional biomass for heating. This will allow approximately half of the plant’s process hot water needs to be met by the middle of the decade, thereby reducing CO2 emissions by 10-15%.
Important decisions for the future
Nedeljković sees the recent investments in the transformation of Dingolfing and the other Bavarian plants as a firm commitment by the BMW Group to Bavaria as a production location: “Nine out of ten BMW vehicles are sold to customers outside of Germany. Despite this, we still have more than half of our employees here, mostly in Bavaria – and, for all the internationalization needed to achieve balanced growth globally, Bavaria remains an important pillar of the BMW Group and its production network. ”