BMW Group’s Steyr Plant in Austria officially began mass production of its sixth-generation electric motors for the Neue Klasse lineup on Friday, marking a transition from over 40 years of combustion engine manufacturing.
The Steyr plant will be the main hub for producing the sixth-generation eDrive technology, delivering electric motors to support the company’s global manufacturing operations.
After being manufactured in Steyr, the electric motors will be distributed across BMW’s global production network. The company first revealed plans to produce these motors in Steyr three years ago, and it is now fulfilling that commitment. As a result, the plant will continue to serve as BMW Group’s central hub for drivetrain production. To support this, BMW is investing more than $1.5 billion between 2022 and 2030 to enhance development and manufacturing capabilities at the Steyr facility.
The sixth-generation electric motor marks a major advancement over earlier versions, incorporating an 800-volt architecture and silicon carbide semiconductor technology. According to Martin Kaufmann, BMW’s senior VP of global Powertrain Development, the new design cuts energy losses by 40%, lowers production costs by 20%, and reduces weight by 10%. These improvements collectively elevate overall vehicle efficiency by around 20%.
Production of core components, including the rotor, stator, transmission, and inverter, will also be done at the Steyr plant, while aluminum housings are cast at BMW’s Landshut facility and then integrated in Steyr. To support the precision required for inverter production, BMW has established a new clean-room environment at Steyr marking the plant’s formal entry into electrical engineering.
Around 1,000 employees will be dedicated to assembling these advanced electric units. By 2030, depending on global market trends, up to half of the plant’s 4,900-strong workforce could be engaged in electric mobility. The facility will also continue to manufacture diesel and petrol engines alongside electric drivetrains in line with BMW’s technology-neutral strategy.
The first model to be equipped with the sixth-generation electric motor will be the BMW iX3 50 xDrive, offering a range of up to 800 kilometers based on WLTP standards. This next-generation version is expected to be approximately 20% more efficient than its predecessor with the Gen5 xDrive system.
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