This factory is different in other ways, too. “We do not weld; we have no rivets, no screws and no bolts. We just glue components together,” says Ulrich Kranz, the head of the division that since 2013 has been making BMW’s i3 and i8 electric and hybrid vehicles in Leipzig. Since the carbon-fibre body provides the vehicle with its strength, the outer panels are mainly decorative and made from plastic. These are simple to spray in a small paint booth, whereas metal requires elaborate anti-corrosion treatment in a giant and costly paint shop. In all, the i3 factory uses 50% less energy and 70% less water than a conventional facility.
The i-series are upmarket cars, but still produced in volume. BMW has succeeded in taking a new material hitherto used in low-volume specialist applications, such as aerospace and defence, and turning it into something close to mass-produced. That called for radical changes. When in 2007 the BMW board asked Mr Kranz to come up with an electric city car and a low-energy production system, he and his team went into hiding to allow ideas to flow freely.
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