The BMW factory in Steyr is expanding to compensate for the decline of diesel



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The BMW factory in Steyr is expanding to compensate for the decline of diesel

Steyr. The BMW carmaker and therefore its largest engine plant in Steyr is working to prepare for a future with several drive models.


The BMW factory in Steyr is expanding to compensate for the decline of diesel

12.4 million pieces are produced in Steyr every year. This means that 80% of the main components of the engines come from Steyr. Image: BMW Group Steyr plant

The key is "flexibility in all directions," says Steyr managing director Christoph Schröder. During assembly, gasoline, diesel, rear wheel drive, front wheel drive and four wheel drive must be produced in a single line using a modular system.

Electric motors continue to be installed exclusively in Dingolfing. However, with the machining of boxes for electric motors in mechanical production in Steyr, the factory also receives at least one foot in this door. The first cases will be delivered in March. By 2021, 460,000 units will be processed annually. Investment volume: EUR 58 million.

In Steyr, a new assembly line will be commissioned in the second half of the year. The latest generation of four- and six-cylinder gasoline engines will be mounted on this. There will be 260 employees. Investment point: 74 million euros.

Further investment in diesel development continues: "We are working on the next generation of diesel engines, which will start in 2020," reports the plant's head. At the development center, new "complex components of electric motors" are being built, says Schröder. Stromer's cooling circuits would also be developed and tested in Steyr.

With these activities, Schröder wants to destroy the impression that the factory in Steyr has no future. He also tries to relativize the exclusion of one layer in the single pure diesel engine range: "We make the same number of units but we can do it in full two-shift operation better than in a poorly used three-shift period."

Highest Employment

The job cuts, therefore, only led to a reduction among temporary workers in the "double-digit range". "It's about less than two percent of the workforce." Schröder emphasizes that 750 jobs have been made in the last two years. With 3610 workers and employees, the main workforce is at the highest level (plus 4.6%). In addition, there will be 1035 rental forces at the end of 2018 (minus 3 percent year on year).

The engine factory is and will continue to be an important part of the BMW network, aligning Schröder with those who question the future of the factory and the long-term diesel development center. "I see the plant in five years with a production volume similar to the current one." As in the previous year, about 300 million euros will be invested in the site.

The mill's turnover in 2018 was € 3.6 billion, down five percent. Production volume of 1.2 million units was 8% lower than in 2017.

As Magna builds the BMW 5 Series and the Z4 in Graz, BMW considers itself the "largest car manufacturer in Austria". 64,000 pieces ran in 2018 in Graz from the ribbon. Thus, BMW has managed more than 10 thousand jobs, according to the annual media interview. 6.6 billion euros make BMW companies in sales in Austria, which is six percent lower than last year. The sales company in Salzburg recorded a decline in sales of ten percent to 1.7 billion euros.

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