Five locations were shortlisted from over 250 applicants. Leipzig won the race. Twenty years ago, on July 18, 2001, the BMW Group's decision to build a new plant in Leipzig was announced at a press conference in Munich. "Here we see the location with the best overall prospects for our purposes," said the then Chairman of the Board of Management of BMW AG, Prof. Joachim Milberg.
The location and the more than 200-hectare site near the Leipzig Trade Fair were able to prevail in the evaluation of the following selection criteria:
- An ideal condition and location of the future plant site
- The availability of qualified specialist personnel
- The use of existing structures with regard to suppliers and logistics
- A very good infrastructure for transportation, supply and disposal
- The connection to the BMW plant network
- A fast implementation process
- Economic efficiency and flexibility
Planning for 2005
At the time, the BMW Group expected the new plant to create around 5500 jobs in the medium term. Production from 2005 was calculated at 650 units per day and the investment sum was put at around one billion euros.
Production started with around 2500 employees at the Leipzig plant. 20 years later, the number of units per day is over 1100, more than 8000 people work on the factory premises and investments continue to be made. In the meantime, the total investment has already exceeded three billion euros.
More than three million vehicles have been built in Leipzig since March 2005. "The good cooperation between company management and employee representatives has led to a continuous increase in the number of employees at the Leipzig plant since the decision to locate here, making us an integral part of the region," says Works Council Chairman Jens Köhler, pleased with the positive development of the Leipzig site.
Much encouragement
After the decision in favor of Leipzig, the enthusiasm and popularity in the region was enormous. The number of applicants was also huge: on the day after the announcement of the location, over 4,000 calls were received in a specially set up call center and baskets of mail were delivered in the first few days. In September 2001, 35 trainees were the first to receive an employment contract for the BMW Group plant in Leipzig. Since then, the plant has trained around 900 apprentices, almost all of whom are still working at the plant.
In Leipzig, the BMW Group also laid the foundations for one of the most modern and sustainable automobile plants in the world. Its outstanding feature is its particularly well thought-out and flexible structures. For example, an assembly building with a finger structure for ideal logistics solutions and flexible adaptation options was built for the first time in the world. The so-called finger or comb structure was developed especially for the Leipzig plant. This structure allows vendor parts and pre-assembled modules to be transported directly to the production lines by truck and also allows for extensions and the integration of new assembly steps without having to build new buildings.
The Leipzig plant has been constantly demonstrating its enormous adaptability with new products, processes and technologies since 2005 and often plays a pioneering role in the BMW Group's global production network. The Saxon production site is the birthplace of electromobility for the BMW Group.
More than 200,000 units of the all-electric BMW i3 have already been produced here since 2013. Carbon was also used in series production for the first time in the world in these vehicles. The accumulated expertise in the field of electromobility continues to be used intensively. Since May, the site has been part of the company's international production network for high-voltage batteries.
BMW and Mini from 2023
From 2023, the plant will once again be able to demonstrate its flexibility: Leipzig will be the first German location where BMW and MINI brand vehicles will roll off the production line together. The contract to build the completely newly developed successor generation to the current MINI Countryman has been awarded to the production site in Saxony The new MINI crossover model will roll off the production line there with both combustion engines and purely electric drive systems "We have worked continuously in recent years to lead our plant into a successful future. Now we can aim for another major milestone with the order to produce the successor to the MINI Countryman," says Hans-Peter Kemser, Head of BMW Group Plant Leipzig. And the plant is also pursuing another ambitious goal: "As a green plant, we not only want to produce CO2-neutrally at the Leipzig site in future, but even CO2-free," says Hans-Peter Kemser, announcing the direction for the near future.
Important for the region
Leipzig's Lord Mayor Burkhard Jung also sees the decision in favor of Leipzig as a major milestone for the city and the region: "Leipzig is once again an industrial location - this development, which is so important for us economically, would hardly have been conceivable without the far-sighted decision from Munich 20 years ago. Over the past two decades, the northern area has developed into an industrial heart of the entire region, with people far beyond the city benefiting from this technological and industrial development. And BMW in Leipzig doesn't just produce cars - the cars and production technologies of tomorrow are being worked on here. This makes me confident that Leipzig will also be a key location for the transport revolution and the development of new technologies."
Milestones
Here are the most important events at BMW Group Plant Leipzig, including a look into the future:
- 2001: Decision in favor of Leipzig
- 2002: Selection of the architectural design by Zaha Hadid for the realization of the central building and groundbreaking ceremony
- 2003: Laying of the foundation stone for the central building and topping-out ceremony
- 2005: Opening of the plant, start of series production with the BMW 3 Series and winning the German Architecture Prize for the central building
- 2009: 500,000th vehicle and opening of the press shop with the world's first high-speed servo press
- 2011: 1'000.'00th BMW from Leipzig
- 2013: Commissioning of the 4 wind turbines and start of BMW i3 production, the world's first use of carbon in series production
- 2014: Start of BMW i8 production, expansions for the construction of the BMW 2 Series Active Tourer (first BMW with front-wheel drive) and expansion of the press shop
- 2016: 2,000,000th BMW from Leipzig
- 2017: Opening of the storage farm
- 2019: Expansion of the paint shop
- 2021: 3,000,000th BMW from Leipzig and start of battery module production
- 2023: Start of production of the MINI Countryman successor
