BMW says it will add 2,000 jobs at its German Dinglolfing as it ramps up investment in electrification.
Ilka Horstmeier, the new director of the BMW Group’s plant in Lower Bavaria, announced that “we will increase the number of Dingolfing-based jobs in the production of e-drive components several times over in the next few years – to a total of up to 2,000.”
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In 2018, BMW said the share of electrified models more than doubled year-on-year, to around 9% of the total production output at Dingolfing. Almost 30,000 plug-in hybrids of the BMW 5 Series and 7 Series rolled off the assembly lines at the Dingolfing plant. A total of around 330,000 vehicles were built at the location in 2018, including, as a first, the new BMW 8 Series’ coupe and convertible variants. Dingolfing is BMW Group’s largest European production site in terms of production output.
In the coming years, the BMW iNext, scheduled for production at the Dingolfing plant from 2021, will be among the ‘major milestones on the road to future mobility’. Extensive investments are already being made all around the plant to prepare for the model. Ilka Horstmeier said: “The BMW iNext brings together all key automotive technologies: it is fully electric, fully connected and highly automated. It is the technology flagship for the future of the entire BMW Group. And we are proud that this car of the future will be built here at our plant.”
The BMW iNext paves the way for a number of innovations: Starting in 2021, it will be the first all-electric BMW to be produced in Dingolfing, where it will be assembled flexibly and efficiently on a single line together with plug-in hybrid and combustion-engine models. According to Horstmeier, the new addition would also allow the location to play a pioneering role in the future-oriented field of autonomous driving.
Ilka Horstmeier has been director of the BMW Group’s largest European vehicle plant since November 2018. Commenting on her area of responsibility, she stated: “Our industry is experiencing exciting times, and the Dingolfing plant is definitely the most exciting place you can be right now. This is where corporate strategy becomes reality.”
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By GlobalDataThe plant in Dingolfing is a showcase for many future topics in automotive engineering, including the BMW Group’s centre of excellence for the production of electric drive systems. This role will be significantly expanded over the next few years. In the long term, the number of jobs in this promising field is to rise from currently 600 to up to 2,000 employees, according to Horstmeier. Dingolfing already supplies the BMW Group’s global vehicle plants with batteries and electric motors for the production of electrified vehicles. From 2020, the all-new fifth generation of electric drives will roll off the production line at the site, ensuring further growth in production volumes.
Horstmeier adds: “With the production launch of the new BMW 7 Series in March and further model variants of the BMW 8 Series, our Dingolfing plant is making a major contribution to BMW’s model initiative in the luxury segment and to the Group’s profitability this year.”
Regarding the current situation of the BMW Group and the Dingolfing plant, Horstmeier commented: “Even though the general conditions were not always favourable, we managed to make 2018 a successful business year with another sales record for the BMW Group. With almost 330,000 cars produced, the Dingolfing plant once again made a major contribution to this accomplishment.”
