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The BMW 3 Series has been the load-bearing wall of the brand for half a century, and BMW has just spent accordingly. Around two billion euros has gone into readying its German plants for the eighth-generation car. Roughly half went into the vehicle plants at Munich and Dingolfing. The other half went into building a new battery plant at Irlbach-Straßkirchen in Lower Bavaria. Some 18 million 3 Series have rolled off the line since 1975, and 15 million of those were made in Germany.
The work splits neatly by powertrain. Munich, the company’s parent plant and more than a century old, has been rebuilt as an electric-only site and now assembles the all-electric i3. Next year it switches entirely to Neue Klasse models. Dingolfing takes the combustion and plug-in hybrid versions, with a fresh body shop line slotted in so the new car can join the existing model mix in paint and assembly. Dingolfing first built a 3 Series in 1980, so this counts as a homecoming.
Irlbach-Straßkirchen is the newcomer, and arguably the most significant piece. Sixth-generation high-voltage batteries are assembled there, and from October the site feeds battery systems straight to Munich for the i3. BMW is keen to frame it as proof that new industrial sites can still be built in Germany when manufacturers, councils and government pull in the same direction.
The supply chain numbers are worth a look. Around 760 supplier locations feed Munich and Dingolfing as production ramps up. More than 70 per cent of those sit in Europe and more than 30 per cent in Germany. BMW builds over a million cars a year on German soil, roughly a quarter of the national total, and around 55 per cent of its workforce is based there.
Raymond Wittmann, the board member responsible for production, put the case bluntly. “We are investing in value creation, competitive production and job security in Germany. The new BMW 3 Series is the proof,” he said. “Conditions that enable investment, innovation and competitiveness are essential if industrial value creation is to enjoy continued success in Germany.” The same standards travel abroad under a local-for-local policy, with production also running at San Luis Potosí in Mexico and a market-specific version in Shenyang. By the end of 2027, around 40 new or updated Neue Klasse models will be on the road.
