BMW’s Last German-Built Engine Was A V8

BMW has said auf wiedersehen to engine production in Germany, with the last dinosaur-powered unit to roll off its Munich production line a V8. It’s not the end of the road for them elsewhere, though.

As reported by German publication BR24, November 10 saw the final home-built BMW engine produced as its factory makes the shift towards building electric motors. Importantly, no jobs are said to be lost, with 1,200 members of staff at the Munich plant being retrained.

Munich is also currently the site where the BMW i4 is produced and is also expected to produce the upcoming new i3 saloon and Touring models.

Which car the final German-built V8 is destined for is unclear, but it’s most certainly an SUV - with eight-cylinders only currently available in the XM, X5 and X6 M, as well as the X7 M60i. If you’ve happened to place an order for any of those lately, you might have a future investment on your hands. The upcoming new M5 will also have a V8, though it’s still a few months from production.

So, where will engine production go? Well, BMW has a plant here in the UK in Birmingham which will take on more load, as will the Magna Steyr plant in Austria. It’s reported the V8 will go to the latter.

Despite the news, BMW has remained an outlier in refraining from committing to a date to end all internal combustion production. In contrast, Mercedes has already said new models introduced from 2025 will be electric only, with Audi doing the same from 2026.

Of course, it’s worth keeping in mind that EU law will ban the sale of all brand-new combustion-powered cars by 2035 and that various US states have mandates to do the same.