Plant Steyr enters new chapter: BMW Group launches series production of electric engines for Neue Klasse.
It’s a moment that is rewriting the history of BMW Group Plant Steyr – and a major step into the automotive future: for the first time, fully electric drives will roll off the production lines at the longstanding facility. Series production of sixth-generation electric engines for the BMW eDrive marks the dawn of a new era – in technological, strategic and industry terms.
“A clear commitment to the future.”
Three years ago, the BMW Group announced an ambitious plan. Today that plan is a reality: Plant Steyr is becoming the centrepiece of electromobility at the BMW Group. Comprehensively upgraded to produce electric drives, the facility is a symbol of our openness to different technologies, secure employment and regional value creation.
“Today we are laying the foundations for the future of the BMW Group,” explained Milan Nedeljković, BMW AG Board Member for Production. “As the first production site for the Gen6 electric engine, Plant Steyr is central to the Neue Klasse and the continued development of our global production network.”
Klaus von Moltke, Head of Engine Production at BMW AG and Plant Director at Steyr, also sees today as a day with far-reaching consequences:
“Three years ago, we announced that we would build this electric engine in Steyr. Today, we are proud to deliver it. What we are launching here today is more than just a production ramp-up. It is a firm commitment to Europe, to technology and to the future.”
A site reinvented – yet true to itself.
Plant Steyr has been synonymous with superlative drive technology for more than four decades. One in every two BMW and MINI vehicles worldwide is powered by an engine from Steyr. But now the site is being redesigned: in the future the focus will be not just on our respected combustion engines but on electric drives as well.
“Technology openness is our strength – it gives us the necessary flexibility to secure long-term jobs.”
Klaus von Moltke, Head of Engine Production at BMW AG and Plant Director at Steyr
To ready the plant for the new electric engines, halls were erected, existing buildings modernised and processes re-engineered. About 1,000 employees will work in the new electric engine assembly, with potentially half of Steyr’s 4,900-strong workforce working in e-mobility over the medium term, depending on how the market develops.
Comprehensive enhancements to the electric engine.
“Energy loss is reduced by 40 percent, costs by 20 percent and weight by 10 percent. All this makes a significant contribution to the approximately 20-percent increase in overall vehicle efficiency,” explained Martin Kaufmann, Head of Global Powertrain Development at BMW AG.
Industry expertise as a factor for the future.
From rotors and stators to transmissions, inverters and housings, Plant Steyr produces and assembles all the key components of electric drives. Housings are cast in the aluminium foundry at Plant Landshut and processed at Steyr, while inverters are made in a new in-house cleanroom – taking the Austrian facility into the field of electrical engineering.
The transformation of the plant is a testament to how industrial expertise, regional ties and a global strategy can indeed go hand in hand. And for Helmut Hochsteiner, Head of Electric Engine Production in Steyr, the change is more than just technical:
“The new electric engine is made with innovative manufacturing processes. Implementing them takes perfect planning, experience and expertise – which is why we scaled up component production and the manufacture of the entire drive to industrial level ourselves, here in-house.”
