BMW Group’s Munich plant will begin series production of the new i3 in August, marking the start of the Neue Klasse rollout across the carmaker’s wider manufacturing network.
That gives the company’s home plant a central role in BMW’s next EV phase, with Munich also due to switch to all-electric production from 2027.
BMW said it has spent about 650 million euros (RM3bil) on the transformation, covering a new body shop, a new vehicle assembly area and logistics upgrades. The work has been carried out while the site continued building up to 1,000 vehicles a day, which is no small ask for a factory now surrounded by the city it once sat outside of.
The i3 is the second Neue Klasse model, and BMW said more will follow in Munich. Plant manager Peter Weber also confirmed the BMW i3 Touring is part of that plan, which gives the site a longer runway than just one launch model.
A lot of the rebuild comes down to efficiency. BMW said the new body shop uses around 800 industrial robots and runs at roughly 98% automation.
In logistics, about 70% of parts are set to be delivered directly to assembly workstations, while automated systems, smart transport robots and driverless transport systems are expected to handle around 60% of supply tasks.
The company also said overall production costs at Munich should fall by a further 10% once i3 production begins.
There is a regional supply angle too. Gen6 high-voltage batteries for the i3 will come from BMW’s Irlbach-Straßkirchen battery assembly site in Lower Bavaria, while the Gen6 e-motor will be built at Steyr in Austria. That keeps much of the value chain close to the Munich plant as BMW ramps up Neue Klasse output.
