BMW Group is investing €400m (£341m) in its vehicle manufacturing plant in Dingolfing, Germany to support production of battery-electric vehicles, plug-in hybrids and models with combustion engines on a single assembly line.
“We firmly believe that, over the next few years, there will be more than just one solution worldwide for all our customers’ mobility needs,” said Milan Nedeljkovic, member of the board of management at BMW responsible for production. “Instead, we expect to see a mix of different drive technologies.”
According to BMW, plug-in hybrids make up nearly 10% of all production at Dingolfing, which is BMW’s largest European production location. The BMW iNEXT will become the plant’s first pure battery-electric vehicle from 2021.
“With the BMW iNEXT, our Dingolfing location is demonstrating that we are capable of implementing growing product demands in efficient large-scale industrial production,” added Nedeljkovic.
In August, vehicle production was interrupted for four weeks to allow the plant to progress with various construction and remodelling activities and prepare the location for new models.
The plant’s body shop was prepared for the BMW iNEXT several months ago and new production lines are currently being built for the body’s floor assembly.
The BMW iNEXT will be produced on a single line with the BMW 5 Series, 7 Series and 8 Series models in one of Dingolfing’s two assembly halls. However, for BMW’s electrified and highly-automated vehicles, some work will be distributed differently throughout the manufacturing process than for conventional vehicles.
This relocation of work along the production line has required an extension of the assembly hall and partial restructuring. Construction work on the three-storey assembly annex began in summer 2018.
Subsequently, the production lines have gradually been constructed and put into operation, including a new ‘marriage’ section where the body and powertrain are joined together
And as BMW Group’s global competence centre for electric drive train production, Dingolfing is also currently being expanded and further developed. Up to 2,000 employees are expected to work at the location in electric component production over the long term.
Dingolfing is one of 31 BMW Group production sites worldwide. Around 1,500 BMW 3 Series, 4 Series, 5 Series, 6 Series, 7 Series and 8 Series cars are produced daily at the southern Bavarian plant.
In 2018, Dingolfing produced a total of nearly 330,000 vehicles.
