Four drive concepts – one promise: Sportiness in series

Dingolfing. BMW Group Plant Dingolfing has today celebrated the official start of production for the new BMW 5 Series Touring. The newcomer is the first premium vehicle in its segment to feature not just a petrol, diesel or plug-in hybrid drive but also a fully electric one. That makes the BMW i5 Touring the fourth all-electric model to enter series production at Plant Dingolfing in not even three years.

“Our BMW 5 Series Touring is especially important for Germany and the European market, and a lot of customers have been waiting for it,” said Plant Director Christoph Schröder. But at the end of May, the wait will be over, because that’s when the new Touring – now in its sixth generation – will reach dealers’ showrooms and the first cars are handed over to customers. The new model is already available to order now.

Since launching the first generation in 1991, Plant Dingolfing in Lower Bavaria has been the sole producer of the BMW 5 Series Touring, with more than 1.2 million rolling off its production lines over the years. Like its predecessor, the new BMW 5 Series Touring – irrespective of drive – is manufactured flexibly alongside the BMW 5 Series Sedan and BMW 4 Series and 6 Series models, all on a single production line. Investments in the plant for the new BMW 5 Series Touring amount to approx. 80 million euros.

“For us here in Dingolfing, the BMW 5 Series is part of our DNA,” explained Plant Director Christoph Schröder, “and the launch of the new Touring represents the next step in the renewal of our successful model series.” Last year BMW 5 Series vehicles accounted for about a third of output from Dingolfing. But with the Touring now available, numbers could rise significantly in 2024, potentially nearing the 50 percent mark.

BMW Group Plant Dingolfing

BMW Group Plant Dingolfing is the BMW Group’s largest European production facility. Every day it produces more than 1,500 vehicles, with the BMW 4 Series, 5 Series, 6 Series, 7 Series, 8 Series and the all-new BMW iX rolling off the production lines. In 2023 output totalled some 292,000 units.

Currently the site employs over 18,500 people and has 900 trainees learning 15 professions. That makes it not just by far the largest employer in the region but also one of the largest industry and vocational training bases in Germany.

As well as producing vehicles, Dingolfing manufactures components such as pressed parts and chassis and drive systems. The component plant 02.20 is home to the BMW Group’s Centre of Excellence for e-drive production, which supplies BMW Group plants worldwide with the electric motors and high-voltage batteries they need to produce plug-in hybrid and fully electric models.

Plant Dingolfing also manufactures bodies-in-white for all the Rolls-Royce models. Its so-called Dynamics Centre, a huge warehouse and reloading point, is the heart of central aftersales logistics at the BMW Group and delivers original BMW parts and accessories to BMW and MINI trade organisations worldwide.