BMW is going through a rough patch in China where demand has slowed down. In addition, around 1.5 million vehicles have been impacted by a potentially faulty integrated braking system supplied by Continental. That includes 320,000 vehicles that haven’t been delivered to customers yet. These unforeseen issues have now put the brakes on production at the company’s largest plant in Europe.
Located in southern Bavaria, the Dingolfing site is currently on a hiatus. It stopped making cars on Thursday afternoon (September 12) and won’t resume operations until Tuesday morning (September 17). Contacted by the business newspaper Automobilewoche, a BMW spokesperson confirmed the production pause is caused by the two issues we mentioned earlier.
BMW manufactured 291,907 cars at the Dingolfing factory in 2023, making it the fourth most productive site, after Dadong (China), Spartanburg (United States), and Tiexi (China). It’s where the new M5 Sedan and M5 Touring are being made alongside the regular 5 Series models. In addition, the 4 Series and M4 models are produced there as well. The flagship 7 Series and fully electric iX are assembled at the same German site alongside the 8 Series. Last year, the final 6 Series Gran Turismo rolled off the assembly line. The 8er lineup isn’t expected to stick around for much longer, but nothing is official yet.
The Dingolfing site employs around 18,500 people along with approximately 900 apprentices. However, the temporary production stoppage impacts only 12,000 workers. In 2023, the German factory celebrated half a century of car production, during which more than 12 million vehicles have been assembled. Aside from making cars, the site in Lower Bavaria also builds electric motors, around 1.5 million to date. Moreover, body shells for Rolls-Royce vehicles are produced there, too.
In case you’re wondering which car hit the assembly line first, it was an Iberian Red carbureted 5 Series (520, E12) on September 27, 1973. Almost two-thirds of all vehicles built in Dingolfing have been 5er models.
Source: Automobilwoche (subscription required)