The start of production of the new BMW i3 this summer marks more than just the launch of another electric vehicle. It signals a fundamental transformation at BMW Group Plant Munich, one of the most unusual and strategically important car factories in Europe. As BMW invited the international press, we were able to visit the Munich site ahead of the ramp-up.
What we found was a factory still in a careful ‘pre-series’ phase, where test vehicles are being assembled, and every process is scrutinized before full production begins in August.
Industrial robots rehearse their movements, systems are calibrated, and trial cars undergo detailed analysis. It is the quiet before a highly digitalized ramp-up that will gradually return daily output to 1,000 vehicles once full production is reached.
Right in the city
What makes Munich truly remarkable is not just its technology, but its location. Unlike most modern automotive plants built on vast greenfield sites, this factory sits right in the city, in the Milbertshofen district.
When it was founded in 1922, the site lay on the outskirts of Munich. Over the decades, however, the city expanded around it, turning the plant into a rare example of large-scale urban manufacturing. Today, it is surrounded by residential neighborhoods, offices, and major roads, making space ‘the most precious resource’.
This constraint has forced BMW to rethink industrial logic. Instead of spreading out horizontally, the factory has been rebuilt vertically.
A new multi-level production system stacked across several floors allows different assembly stages to take place on top of one another. This is highly unusual in an industry that traditionally favors flat layouts for efficiency, but in Munich, it is the only viable solution.
Investment of €650 million
The transformation, which began in 2022 and represents an investment of around €650 million, has been carried out while the plant continued producing up to 1,000 vehicles per day (3 & 4 Series, including i4). Today, around 7,000 people work at the site, making it not only a historical cornerstone of BMW but also a major employer in the region.
Logistics in such a dense urban environment present another challenge. With limited on-site storage capacity, the factory operates with minimal buffers – just a few hours of inventory.
Parts are delivered in a tightly synchronized flow from external logistics hubs located outside the city. Around 700 trucks supply the plant daily, while up to 2.5 million parts are handled.
Autonomous transport platforms
Inside the factory, a fleet of autonomous transport platforms continuously moves through the different halls and levels, bringing parts exactly where they are needed.
These driverless systems are digitally linked to the production line and deliver components just in time and in the correct sequence for each specific car as it approaches its assembly station, ensuring a constant, highly precise flow of materials.
This high level of synchronization is a key element of BMW’s iFactory strategy, which aims to make all its plants more flexible, digital, and efficient.
Munich serves as a flagship example of this approach. Artificial intelligence is embedded across production, from quality control, where hundreds of images per vehicle are automatically analyzed, to predictive maintenance and logistics optimization. Automation levels reach around 60% overall, and up to 98% in the body shop.
No humanoid robots?
Notably, while BMW is actively exploring the use of humanoid robots in its factories – through pilot projects with partners such as Figure AI – none were seen operating on the Munich production lines during our visit.
For now, the company relies on highly specialized industrial robots and autonomous systems. Humanoid robots are seen as a longer-term addition, potentially useful for more flexible, repetitive tasks in environments designed for humans, but they are not yet part of mainstream automotive production.
The new i3 itself is central to this transformation. As the first sedan in BMW’s Neue Klasse generation, it represents a technological leap over current models, with up to 900 km of range and ultra-fast charging.
It is also serving as the electric counterpart to the iconic 3 Series. But beyond performance, it also introduces a fundamentally new production logic.
Expectations for the model are high, as BMW’s latest EVs are already gaining strong market traction: the iX3 50 xDrive is setting sales records in Belgium and other markets.
While a newly introduced, more affordable iX3 40 still offers a notably long driving range of well over 600 kilometers, based on BMW’s latest 800-volt architecture and fast-charging capabilities of up to 400 kW.
Battery pack as an integrated body structure
A key innovation lies in its body-in-white architecture. Instead of a traditional closed floor, the structure is designed as an open frame, with the battery pack integrated as a load-bearing element.
This ‘structural battery’ concept increases overall body rigidity while reducing weight and part count, enabling a more streamlined assembly process. In Munich, this translates into fewer steps and interfaces on the production line, perfectly aligned with the plant’s space constraints and need for efficiency.
This approach contrasts sharply with the battery-swapping strategies seen in China, where manufacturers such as NIO rely on fully modular packs that can be exchanged in minutes.
While swapping offers maximum flexibility and eliminates concerns about battery degradation, it requires a dedicated infrastructure and more complex vehicle design. BMW, like most European manufacturers, instead opts for deeper integration, prioritizing production efficiency and structural performance over modularity.
Phasing out the i4
The arrival of the electric version of BMW’s iconic 3-series also marks a turning point for Munich’s production portfolio. The factory currently builds the BMW i4.
This i4 is one of BMW’s first volume EVs, but it’s expected to be phased out as the i3 takes over its role in the line-up. Especially as there is also a i3 Touring in the pipeline.
Sustainability is also central to the transformation. The plant increasingly relies on renewable energy, while innovations in paint processes significantly reduce energy consumption and emissions.
Electric trucks and hydrogen-powered forklifts are part of the logistics chain, reflecting the constraints and expectations of operating in a city environment.
Part of BMW’s headquarters
Within BMW’s global production network, Munich plays a special role. It is not the largest plant, nor the most spacious, but it is one of the most integrated with the company’s headquarters and development teams.
This proximity enables faster feedback loops between engineering and production, particularly for the launch of the Neue Klasse generation.
The new i3 is only the beginning. BMW plans to roll out 40 new or updated models in the coming years, and the Munich plant demonstrates how even a century-old, space-constrained factory can be transformed into a flexible node within a global production system.
By standardizing processes and digital infrastructure across sites, BMW aims to shift production between factories in response to market demand – an ambition that the Munich transformation helps to validate.
