When we started the tour I was immediately amazed and more entertained than I had been the entire trip. The amount of robots (mostly from KUKA) that were automated and working on every single aspect of the cars was absolutely amazing to me and unlike anything I had ever seen before. Everything was working together like a symphony, all on the same schedule, all doing everything right down to every bolt and every single task, and moving at ridiculous speeds. It was absolutely amazing seeing the cars I have always dreamed about owning being made right before my eyes and being constructed in real time.
As far as their initiative for more sustainability and for an electric future as opposed to combustion engines, there was not much I could see in the factory as our tour was cut short. I did however see a lot of hybrid and EVs being produced on the production lines. The main evidence I saw for their initiative was shown more during the presentation. They were talking of their new class of vehicles that would contain over 10 new fully electric models while still maintaining their status as a luxury car brand.
You could especially feel the Bavarian identity through the company’s emphasis on craftsmanship, engineering precision, and tradition. In both the factory and in the museum we saw how the design of their cars came together with their entire process being laid out from start to finish.
The thing is, their future to me is unclear. Their entire customer base has been built off their identity and their feeling of luxury and comfort, not reliability which could pose an issue with the move towards EVs. The thing is the EV technology as of right now is still relatively new. People report problems with their EVs all of the time which makes people question whether owning one is worth it or not. With this new tech and BMW already being known as a very unreliable brand, consumers could make a shift away from the brand and start prioritizing reliability over status as they’ll view it as not a fair trade off.
