BMW has opened an additional body shop for its factory in Regensburg. In the new production hall in Neutraubling, the manufacturer currently produces about 120 car bodies per day.

This is because the plant’s output is constantly increasing, with more than a third of electrified cars already rolling off the production line in 2024. The iX1 and iX2 and the corresponding two combustion models are currently being built in Regensburg.

Last year, BMW converted a hall measuring around 40,000 square meters in Neutraubling for an additional new body shop. Around 150 employees currently work in the hall in a single-shift operation.

Four smaller extensions have also been built on just under 1,000 square meters to the north of this site. In this new setting, the Regensburg plant produces around 120 additional car bodies daily.

X1 and X2 very popular

Plant Director Armin Ebner: “The BMW X1 and BMW X2 produced in Regensburg remain extremely popular with customers worldwide. In the new production hall in Neutraubling, we manufacture over 120 vehicle bodies daily, helping us meet high market demand.”

As a result of this capacity expansion, bodies for the BMW X1 series will “no longer be produced solely in the existing body shop in Regensburg, but also in Neutraubling,” the press release explains.

The company said the new body shop was built in less than twelve months. The production hall is located on a Preymesser site, and BMW was already a tenant.

In April 2024, BMW obtained a change of use so that dismantling the previous logistics facilities and constructing the new body shop could proceed simultaneously.

According to BMW, the first test bodies rolled off the production line in January, and the production ramp-up started at the beginning of March. A total of 294 robots are in use.

“Once completed, the bodies from Neutraubling are transported to the vehicle plant in Regensburg, where they are assembled into finished cars around the clock in three-shift operation,” the car manufacturer explained.

Preparing for the ‘Neue Klasse’

The Regensburg plant is also preparing to produce the Neue Klasse in parallel with the manufacture of current models. During the production interruption at the turn of the year, the plant modified the Regensburg body shop (not in Neutraubling), the paint shop, and vehicle assembly.

Further “extensive structural measures” will follow during a five-week production interruption in the summer of 2025.

Every 57 seconds, a new vehicle rolls off the Regensburg assembly line, adding up to more than 1,400 vehicles daily. With an annual production of around 342,500 cars, Regensburg was the BMW Group’s highest-volume vehicle plant in Europe in 2024. It was, therefore, also more than 100,000 vehicles above its annual production in 2023.

As mentioned, more than a third of the vehicles built in Regensburg in 2024 were electrified, i.e., plug-in hybrids or fully electric models. Just a few days ago, the Plant Regensburg team was presented with the “Factory of the Year 2024″ award in the category “excellent large-series assembly” at a congress in Ludwigsburg. The award is regarded as one of Germany’s most prestigious industrial competitions.

“In particular, the flexibility in both the factory set-up and among its employees is exemplary and serves as inspiration for successful production in Germany,” the judges noted.