BMW states that its Munich plant is already ready to begin production of Neue Klasse vehicles

Following the start of production of the iX3 at BMW’s new plant in the Hungarian town of Debrecen, its main Munich plant is preparing to take on a central role from 2026, starting production of new Neue Klasse models. The first of them will be the i3 saloon, and shortly afterwards the i3 Touring estate variant will follow.

The Bavarian company has announced that the final functional tests of its new Munich facilities have been successfully completed. Both the body shop and the assembly line now have all the necessary equipment in place, and have also passed the corresponding technical checks. In this way, the Munich plant is already ready to host the new generation of BMW Neue Klasse vehicles.

In a first phase that will begin shortly, no real parts or cars will be manufactured. Instead, a dry run known as the “Common Function Test“ will be carried out. Production managers and technicians thoroughly review each machine and process. Step by step, they simulate the complete assembly of an invisible vehicle, which makes it possible to confirm that all systems work in a coordinated way and without faults, as BMW itself has explained.

The previous prototypes of the new i3 have so far been assembled at the nearby Research and Innovation Centre. In January 2026, that provisional assembly line will be moved to the Munich plant, allowing exhaustive testing of the complete system to continue using pre-series vehicles.

The second Neue Klasse model from BMW will reach the market this coming year

Series production of the new BMW i3 will start in the second half of 2026. It is the model internally known as NA0, the road version of the Vision Neue Klasse concept presented at the IAA 2023. Oliver Zipse, the current CEO of BMW, officially confirmed the name i3 for this new electric saloon of the 3 Series last November.

Although the Munich factory already produces vehicles of similar size, such as the 3 Series and 4 Series with combustion and hybrid engines, it has been necessary to adapt large areas to BMW’s new “iFACTORY” production philosophy. Over the last 18 months, deep renovations have been carried out on about a third of the plant’s floor area. Old halls were demolished and new spaces were built for assembly, logistics and bodywork, all without interrupting the daily production of up to a thousand units of the current models.

“We dismantled old buildings and erected a new logistics centre, body shop and assembly lines, while we continued producing up to 1,000 3 Series and 4 Series vehicles a day.”