BMW ramps up its Dingolfing plant to produce the new 5 Series

BMW has stated in a report that their plant in Dingolfing, southern Germany, is ramping up to begin production of the new 5 Series. Being a huge success in the premium upper-class segment for several years, BMW added that they’ve sold 347,000 units of the 5 Series in 2015.

Slated to be the seventh generation of the 5 Series, BMW revealed that production of the new car will ramp up before the end of 2016 so that they’re ready for the intended launch in early 2017. Several hundred million Euros have been invested in building a new body shop, and restructuring of the drivetrain unit installation. The Dingolfing plant presently rolls out 350,000 vehicles a year.

“Dingolfing will remain our competence centre for production of upper class BMW series,” according to Oliver Zipse, member of the Board of Management of BMW AG, responsible for production. In addition to manufacturing all BMW 7 Series and BMW 6 Series models, the site will continue to produce all variants of the new BMW 5 Series. For the first time, additional units of the new BMW 5 Series saloon will also be built by Austrian contract manufacturer Magna Steyr at their plant in Graz.

BMW’s 5 Series saloon is the second BMW model to be produced by the Austrian contract manufacturer. The first was the BMW X3, which was manufactured by Magna Steyr between 2003 and 2010. Magna Steyr currently also builds the MINI Countryman and the MINI Paceman for the BMW Group.