BMW is making another major production investment as the Neue Klasse rollout begins. This time, its Regensburg plant in Germany has completed several hundred structural and equipment upgrades. These changes were necessary to prepare the plant for the next generation of EVs. Going forward, the site can now complete a key process that literally marries the battery to the vehicle body.
The work took place during a three-week production shutdown from August 8 through August 30. While the X1 and X2 were temporarily absent from the assembly lines, more than 1,000 employees from partner companies came in to carry out the extensive modifications. Production of the two compact crossovers in Regensburg has now resumed as planned.
The centerpiece of the overhaul is a new “Vormontage Energiemodule” (VEM), or energy module pre-assembly, integrated into the vehicle assembly process. BMW refers to the key step as the “Speicher-Hochzeit,” which translates roughly to “battery marriage.”
Happily Married
As the name suggests, this is where the high-voltage battery is joined to the vehicle’s body. Unlike the traditional automotive “marriage,” which connects the combustion engine to the body, the Neue Klasse production process brings the battery and body together at the beginning of final assembly.
BMW has built a new assembly line for the process, along with a high-bay warehouse capable of holding enough energy modules for an entire day’s production. The batteries are automatically transported from the warehouse to the VEM line via a conveyor bridge, arriving in the correct sequence and at precisely the right time.
Robots then secure the battery to the body, effectively making the high-voltage energy storage system part of the vehicle’s structure. Once the operation is complete, the vehicle returns to the regular assembly flow.
The changes at Regensburg go far beyond the new battery assembly area. BMW used the shutdown to carry out hundreds of modifications across the press shop, body shop, paint shop, vehicle assembly, and logistics operations. One of the more important goals was to make every production system flexible enough to accommodate BMW’s existing models and Neue Klasse vehicles on the same lines.
That flexibility will become increasingly important as BMW continues its transition toward a mixed lineup of combustion-engined, plug-in hybrid and fully electric vehicles. Regensburg already builds all three powertrain types on a single production line, with more than 1,400 X1s and X2s rolling off the assembly line each day.
Regensburg Could Build The Next-Gen iX1 Neue Klasse
BMW says production of Neue Klasse models will begin at Regensburg in the second half of this decade. It’s a rather vague timeline, but we believe it’s going to happen late next year. Leading the way should be the next-generation iX1. After all, it’s already been spotted testing with its full production body and final lights. Codenamed NB5, the revamped electric crossover is rumored to enter production in November 2027.
If our sources are accurate, BMW is completely revamping the iX1. It’s skipping the facelift and moving to a rear-wheel-drive platform. The RWD switch will be paired with cylindrical battery cells, delivering greater range than today’s prismatic cells. It should look like a baby iX3, inheriting the iDrive X central display and the pillar-to-pillar windshield projection.
If series production does get underway in a little over a year, the first deliveries should start in early 2028.
First published by https://bit.ly/3sM6JoH
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