BMW has started series production of the new i3 at its Munich plant, with the second Neue Klasse model entering assembly as the company reports strong early demand.
Orders opened in mid-June, ahead of the car’s market launch. BMW said demand has been strong enough to require a steep production ramp-up, although it has not disclosed an order total for the i3.
The company said in May that its European market launch would follow the production start by a few weeks.
Production follows four years of rebuilding at BMW’s historic home plant. A new body shop, assembly hall and logistics areas now occupy around a third of the site. BMW said the conversion was carried out without stopping regular production, with the plant continuing to turn out up to 1,000 vehicles a day.
BMW said the arrival of the i3 will lower manufacturing costs at Plant Munich by a further 10%. Plant director Peter Weber attributed the reduction to production planning, closer work with development teams and suppliers, automation, digital processes and the Neue Klasse vehicle architecture.
Munich has produced the 3 Series since 1975, with more than nine million examples built there. The i3 is the first Neue Klasse model to be produced at the factory and follows the iX3 as the second Neue Klasse vehicle to enter series production.
From 2027, Plant Munich will produce only fully electric vehicles. More Neue Klasse models are due to follow the i3, and BMW chairman Oliver Zipse has previously confirmed the i3 Touring among the models planned for Munich.
The i3’s sixth-generation high-voltage batteries are supplied from BMW’s new Irlbach-Straßkirchen plant in Lower Bavaria, around 90 minutes from Munich. Its Gen6 electric motor is built at Plant Steyr in Austria, where the rotor, stator, inverter and transmission are produced. The aluminium motor housing comes from BMW’s Landshut plant.
BMW lists provisional figures for the i3 50 xDrive of 758km to 912km WLTP range and energy consumption of 13.4 to 16.1kWh/100km.
The first Neue Klasse model, the iX3, has just launched in Malaysia. The i3 will follow.
