BMW Brilliance Automotive’s Dadong plant in Shenyang, China, has crossed a serious manufacturing milestone. On August 21, the manufacturing facility handed 3.5 million autos constructed since opening in 2003. The milestone coincided with one other determine: greater than 2 million items of the BMW 5 Collection have now been produced regionally. The 5 Collection stays certainly one of BMW’s strongest fashions in China, the place it leads the premium govt sedan phase. The landmark automotive was a 5 Collection Shadow Version, nicknamed the “Black Warrior.”
Plant Dadong was BMW’s first manufacturing web site in China and has grown steadily over the previous twenty years. At the moment it produces the BMW 5 Collection long-wheelbase, X3 and X5 long-wheelbase for the Chinese language market. Additionally it is the one manufacturing facility worldwide that builds the absolutely electrical BMW IX3 for international export. The plant has been upgraded in 2022 with in depth digital and automatic methods. A platform referred to as AI High quality Subsequent makes use of cameras and AI evaluation at greater than 30 manufacturing stations to watch meeting in actual time and flag attainable defects.
Paint ending is a specific focus. Every 5 Collection is scanned with over 100,000 pictures to examine mild and shadow on the physique floor earlier than supply. The system continues analyzing knowledge exterior of working hours to enhance accuracy.
Market Pressures
The achievement comes as BMW faces a more durable setting in China. In 2024, BMW Brilliance gross sales dropped 15 p.c to 603,800 autos, whereas exports fell by greater than a 3rd. Rising competitors from home EV makers and weaker demand for combustion fashions are key elements. BMW just lately appointed Birgit Böhm-Wannenwetsch as CEO of BMW Brilliance on August 1. Along with Plant Tiexi, the Shenyang manufacturing hub is on monitor to hit a mixed output of 5 million autos later this 12 months.
Each crops are a part of BMW’s iFACTORY planwhich emphasizes lean, inexperienced, and digitalized manufacturing. Dadong is now able to producing combustion, hybrid, and absolutely electrical autos on the identical line, giving the corporate flexibility as China’s market shifts.
