AUTONEWS

BMW has ended production of its legendary thermal engines

It is more of a confirmation that there is no turning back, rather than a surprise: BMW is not deviating from its course and has fulfilled what it had already announced at the end of 2020, when it announced that it would stop producing, at its Munich factory, the combustion engines that so excited the brand's fans. On November 10th, the German manufacturer turned the page and closed the chapter of a six-decade-long story, ending the manufacture of thermal engines at the main Bayerische Motoren Werke manufacturing facility.

The last breath of fossil life to leave the German factory was a V8 and, from now on, no four, six, eight and twelve cylinders. That is the past and BMW's future involves the first platform designed from scratch for new generation electric vehicles, the Neue Klasse, which will also begin production in Munich from 2026.

This “turning of the page” is the precursor to a much more profound change, as all of the propeller brand’s factories in Germany are condemned to survive solely on the production of exclusively electric models. This is what is expected to happen, since 2020, for the manufacturing complexes in Munich, Dingolfing, Regensburg and Leipzig.

The i4 is already being manufactured in Munich, while the iX1 and iX2 SUVs are coming out of Regensburg. The new i5, i7 and iX are produced in Dingolfing. But all these models are based on platforms originally for combustion engines and later adapted, which will no longer make sense from the moment the Neue Klasse enters the scene, as, at least theoretically, a dedicated architecture allows for more efficient models from the point of view. from an energetic point of view and even simpler and faster to produce. On the other hand, it is necessary to invest in the conversion of factories.

For Munich, the BMW Group's investment to adapt the factory to new needs costs 400 million euros and includes the “retraining” of 1200 workers, who need to acquire skills in the area of engines and electrical systems. Even so, some of these employees may be transferred to other areas.

With the end of BMW engines “made in Germany”, the Bavarian brand still has two factories to meet its combustion needs – one in Austria, via Magna Steyr, and the other in Hams Hall, England. Meanwhile, BMW is moving ahead with the construction in Germany, in Wackersdorf, of a testing center for batteries and other electrical system components. To this investment, which is around 100 million euros, will also be added a factory from which 600,000 battery packs should be produced per year, which received the green light from the citizens of Straßkirchen, the municipality where the construction of this project is planned. “gigafactory”.

Mundoquatrorodas