In numerology the number three is said to have a special significance: it’s often associated with luck, success, diversity and creativity. So BMW Group Plant Leipzig’s latest accomplishment – which involves not one but seven threes – must be a seven-fold success! Leipzig has now produced its 3,333,333rd customer car since going on stream in 2005.
Of the three models currently rolling off the Leipzig production lines – the BMW 1 Series, BMW 2 Series Gran Coupe and BMW 2 Series Active Tourer – it was a BMW 1 Series that was to mark this quirky milestone. The BMW 128ti* was in Melbourne Red metallic with black accents. With its striking interior and exterior features, this sporty model has been in production since last November and is manufactured exclusively at Plant Leipzig.
Under the bonnet nestles a 2.0-litre engine with BMW TwinPower Turbo technology and delivering 195 kW (265hp). The powerpack of a car marks the revival of an old BMW tradition: since the 1960s the abbreviation “TI” – later “ti” – has stood for “Turismo Internazionale” and is a hallmark of especially sporty models. Examples include the iconic BMW 1800 TI and BMW 2002 TI, and the BMW 323ti Compact and BMW 325ti Compact of the late 1990s.
The red BMW 128ti compact sports car is the latest in a string of special milestone vehicles made at BMW Plant Leipzig. The first was a BMW 320i in March 2005, the inaugural “BMW made in Leipzig”. Six years later, in December 2011, came a BMW 116d in Alpine White, Leipzig’s one-millionth car. In October 2016 came the two-millionth, a BMW i3 in Protonic Blue. And in 2021 a BMW M240i Convertible in Sunset Orange was celebrated as the three-millionth car to roll off the lines at BMW Plant Leipzig.
The next milestone vehicle will be Leipzig’s 4,000,000th and either a BMW or a MINI, as the Leipzig vehicle family welcomes new addition this year: the new MINI Countryman. The arrival of the newcomer will make it the first BMW Group plant worldwide to manufacture BMW as well as MINI vehicles.
The integration of the MINI Countryman is proof yet again of the sheer flexibility of BMW Group Plant Leipzig, whose product portfolio will soon number four different models: the BMW 1 Series, BMW 2 Series Gran Coupe, BMW 2 Series Active Tourer and the MINI Countryman. All of them will be made on a single production line – with a choice of three different types of drive: combustion engine, plug-in hybrid and fully electric.
To make this possible, production capacity at Leipzig has steadily increased since the plant went on stream 18 years ago. It now can now produce up to 350,000 cars a year – compared with approx. 54,000 in its first year of production.