Munich/Shenyang. BMW Brilliance’s Shenyang Production Base reached another significant milestone with the official roll-off of its 7 millionth vehicle. This achievement not only reflects the BMW Group’s long-standing commitment to the Chinese market and its continued investment in Shenyang, but also marks a new phase in intelligent manufacturing, local innovation, and future production capabilities.

“For more than 30 years, we have been deeply rooted in China. The seven-millionth BMW vehicle from our plant in Shenyang is a significant milestone in this success story: it demonstrates the strength of our local production – and it reflects the high level of expertise, the great dedication, and the exceptional commitment of our Chinese team,” says Raymond Wittmann, Member of the Board of Management of BMW AG, Production.

“With the start of local production of the Neue Klasse later this year, we are opening the next chapter and starting a new era for BMW in China.”

“Seven million vehicles are far more than just a number — they represent seven million times that Chinese customers have chosen and trusted BMW. Beyond excellent products, we have also built in Shenyang a future-proof production system, strong local competences, and an exceptional team whose expertise drives our innovation and success in China. Building on this strong foundation, we are accelerating into a new era through innovation, deeper localization, and intelligent manufacturing, opening the next chapter of BMW’s development in China.” said Ms. Birgit Boehm, President and CEO of BMW Brilliance Automotive Ltd.

The milestone vehicle that rolled off the line is the BMW 3 Series Horse Edition. It not only showcases BMW’s agility in responding to the Chinese market but also highlights the outstanding cross-functional collaboration across R&D, purchasing, and manufacturing at the Shenyang Production Base, as well as its ability to deliver stable, high-quality output in a highly competitive market environment.

Deeply Rooted in China: Building a New Benchmark for BMW iFACTORY

From the roll-off of the first locally produced BMW vehicle in 2003 to today’s 7 millionth milestone, BMW has established a comprehensive system in China covering complete vehicle and powertrain manufacturing, localized R&D, and a localized supply chain, making it one of BMW’s most important production and innovation hubs worldwide.

The vision of the BMW iFACTORY serves as a powerful guiding principle for the BMW production worldwide. BMW’s long-term commitment to Liaoning Province and Shenyang continues to translate into a future-oriented, high-quality production system and strong local innovation capabilities, further strengthening the company’s long-term development foundation in China.

Digitalization and AI Driving the Next Level of Smart Manufacturing

As a key practice hub for BMW’s global intelligent manufacturing, digitalization and AI technologies have been widely integrated across all production processes at the Shenyang Production Base. Through intelligent applications, the base continuously enhances production efficiency, quality management, and operational coordination, achieving more efficient, stable, and high-quality manufacturing operations.

This development direction is also highly aligned with China’s ongoing efforts to advance new industrialization and foster new quality productive forces. Leveraging its Shenyang Production Base, the BMW Group continues to drive the deep integration of intelligent manufacturing, digitalization and sustainability, setting a benchmark for high-quality development in the premium automotive manufacturing sector while also contributing to local supply chain upgrading and the cultivation of highly skilled talent. This demonstrates BMW’s long-term confidence in China and its continued commitment to supporting the high-quality development of China’s manufacturing industry.

Building Core Capabilities for the Neue Klasse, Accelerating Toward New Era

BMW Shenyang Production Base continues to promote employee upskilling and capability transformation, fostering a professional workforce tailored to the future of the automotive industry. This provides sustained support for new technologies, new products, and new production models, while continuously contributing “China experience” to the BMW global production network.

At the same time, centered around the local production of the Neue Klasse models, BMW Shenyang Production Base is comprehensively advancing upgrades in its production system, digital architecture, and supply chain collaboration capabilities. Leveraging a higher level of flexible manufacturing, AI-powered quality management, and a highly connected digital production network, the Shenyang Production Base is laying a solid foundation for the local production of Neue Klasse models while further strengthening BMW’s overall competitiveness in electrification, digitalization, and sustainability — continuing to lead the future of premium automotive manufacturing.

Shenyang. The BMW i5 that recently rolled off the production line at Plant Dadong in China was a milestone: the fully electric model in Frozen Pure Grey was the 6 millionth car to be made by the BMW Brilliance Automotive (BBA) joint venture. It took just 15 months to produce the last million cars, with the five-million mark passed only in February of last year. The new milestone is evidence of the sheer dynamism and competitiveness of the plant network in Shenyang, where production volumes remain high even as the BBA plants prepare for the Neue Klasse.

“The 6 millionth car is a symbol of the outstanding achievements here in Shenyang,” said Milan Nedeljković, member of the Board of Management of BMW AG responsible for Production. “Just like in all our other plants around the world, the focus here is on competitiveness and innovativeness.”

Artificial intelligence supports quality assurance

The landmark vehicle underwent all the usual rigorous quality checks that take place in Plant Shenyang, including Automatic Surface Inspection in the paint shop. Here, each car is photographed 100,000 times and artificial intelligence is used to identify impurities, fibres, scratches or other minor defects in the paintwork – reliably and precise to the millimetre. Any irregularities are marked on the surface by laser and remedied.

Preparations for the Neue Klasse forge ahead

Meanwhile Shenyang is also preparing to launch production of the Neue Klasse. The BMW Group is currently erecting five high-voltage battery assembly facilities on three continents around the world, one of them in Shenyang where, after an investment of 10 billion RMB, sixth-generation high-voltage batteries will be produced. The building for the new facility was completed last November, and the installation of plant and equipment has been underway since March of this year. The first pre-series batteries are expected to roll off the production line at the end of this year. At the same time, comprehensive tests and localisation certifications are starting at the local R&D centre.

The Neue Klasse is due for launch worldwide in 2025, with China making its first Neue Klasse models from 2026. All three BBA plants – Dadong, Tiexi and Lydia – can already make fully electric cars.

+++ Local production of BMW X5 launches in China +++ Increasing flexibility and strong focus on digitalisation +++ Nedeljković: “Our Chinese production sites are highly significant for the BMW Group” +++

Shenyang. After comprehensive construction work, the new extension to Plant #Dadong is ready to open. Owned by the joint venture ##BMW Brilliance## Automotive Ltd (BBA), the plant will simultaneously launch production of the ##BMW X5## with extended wheelbase in its new extension, exclusively for the Chinese market. A global success story, the X5 has so far only been made at the BMW Group’s US plant, in #Spartanburg. The new plant extension offers additional production capacity globally. With the completion of the construction, the #Dadong plant will follow the principles of the BMW iFACTORY. LEAN. GREEN. DIGITAL.

“Plant Dadong proves the strength of our team”, says Milan Nedeljković, BMW AG Board Member for Production: “Despite the challenges of the last three years, this complex construction project was completed fully on schedule. Our Chinese production sites are highly significant for the BMW Group. Last year almost one in every three BMW Group vehicles delivered around the world was manufactured in Shenyang.”

BMW Brilliance Plant Dadong is where the localisation of BMW vehicles in China first began. Today the plant is a pioneer of “Industry 4.0” car production and perfectly matches to BMW iFACTORY – the masterplan for the future of production. With the upgrade now complete, it offers fully flexible production of combustion-powered, plug-in hybrid and all-electric vehicles. This enhanced flexibility allows it to respond quickly to future market trends and the changing wishes of customers. Extending the plant, further focal points were digitalisation and sustainability, with innovative production technologies further reducing the plant’s environmental impact.

Franz Decker, President and CEO of BMW Brilliance: “In China, we are determined to lead from the forefront: green, lean, digital! Driven by technology and innovation we create more value for our customers. Building on 100 years of BMW manufacturing experience we build-up one of China’s most advanced and intelligent production sites here in Shenyang. Plant Dadong extension will once again set benchmarks on sustainability, productivity, digitalization and agility.”

Besides the newly introduced BMW X5, Plant Dadong already produces the BMW 5 Series and X3 for the Chinese market. It is also the only facility to make the fully electric BMW iX3 for the world market. Together with BBA’s second facility, Plant Tiexi, it produced a combined total of more than 700,000 vehicles last year, making Shenyang not only the highest-volume manufacturing location of the BMW Group but also the largest premium manufacturer in China. Plant Tiexi produces the BMW 1 Series and 3 Series as well as the BMW X1 and X2. In the summer, the new plant, Plant Lydia will open, as the home of the new BMW i3, a fully electric 3 Series made exclusively for the Chinese market.

With the local Powertrain plant, which manufactures combustion engines as well as high-voltage batteries, Shenyang will be home to four production facilities. Extensive R&D work is also carried out there. Since 2010, the joint venture BBA has invested around 83 billion RMB in plants, facilities, projects and R&D activities in Shenyang.

Dadong – Plant extension with superlatives

In its upgraded form, Plant Dadong now has a footprint of 910,000 m² – the equivalent of about 125 football pitches. It accommodates a press shop, a bodyshop, a paintshop and a single roof integrated logistics and assembly building with two independent production lines. The bodyshop is equipped with the KUKA’s largest Titan robot with a loading capacity of 1.3 tonnes for underbody grabbing.

Further investments have also been made in sustainability. Nearly 80 percent of finished vehicles in Shenyang are wholly or partially transported by rail, hence with nine railway lines plant Dadong has the biggest railway station in all BMW Group plant structures. The press shop offers clean separation of scrap aluminium and steel for circularity, thereby making a major contribution to the further reduction of CO₂ emissions. The paintshop in Plant Dadong has already achieved zero fresh water consumption, and energy consumption efficiency is set to be increased even further.

Plant Dadong’s solar array has also been upgraded. This year, its 179,000m² of panels are expected to produce more than 21 MWh of energy from renewable sources. BBA Shenyang production base now owns 290,000 m² covered area of solar panel system, ranking No.1 in Liaoning Province. In addition, the plant has introduced further charging points in car parks for employees to charge their cars.

Digitalisation sets standards

Dadong has also received a digitalisation upgrade. Benefit-driven digital projects are implemented in five core areas: Digital Platform, Planning, Production, Logistics, and Campus. Data science, artificial intelligence and virtual planning are opening up new dimensions in automotive production, making it faster, more precise and more transparent and taking efficiency, flexibility, sustainability and quality to an entirely new level.

Process control and various parameter data are monitored and analysed in real-time throughout the entire production process chain, allowing potential problems to be detected quickly and resolved.