An early 7:00 a.m. departure meant we were on the bus to Munich before most people would even think about starting their day. Since BMW is the company my group is presenting on, I was paying close attention from the moment we arrived, taking notes throughout both the presentation and the tour.

We kicked off with a guest speaker session covering BMW’s business operations, supply chain, and long-term strategy. A lot of the discussion centered on electrification and sustainability, which are clearly top of mind for the company right now. One thing that came up that I found particularly interesting from a finance perspective was BMW’s strategy of manufacturing in multiple countries to avoid import tariffs and reduce logistics costs for the end consumer. It is the kind of decision that sounds simple on the surface but reflects an enormous amount of long-term strategic planning and capital allocation underneath.

The factory tour itself was impressive. Standing on the platform above the assembly line watching robots weld and assemble vehicles with that level of speed and precision was genuinely one of the cooler things I have seen. The automation is staggering. There is something almost surreal about watching a car come together largely without human hands touching it.

But if I am being honest, the museum was my favorite part of the day. As someone whose family is originally from just outside Munich, there was something personally meaningful about tracing BMW’s history from its earliest days all the way through to the Neue Klasse concept vehicles in development today. The museum does a great job of telling that story in a way that makes you understand the brand as more than just a car company. It felt like a piece of Bavarian identity on display, which given why I wanted to come on this trip in the first place, hit a little differently for me than I expected.

The one tension I kept coming back to throughout the day was the gap between BMW’s sustainability ambitions and where production actually stands today. The commitment is clearly real, but the transition is slow and expensive, and traditional combustion vehicles still dominate the floor. That balance between vision and current reality is something my group will be digging into further for our presentation.

I also tried my first Doner with a couple of German students from my group. I will be having MANY more!