[karan561]

Hello BHP'ians,

Was in Munich, Germany for a business visit and had the opportunity to take out a day & visit the WELT, BMW Museum & the Plant (Which is the 1st BMW Plant in the world)

Heres an outlook of the place;



BMW MUSEUM;

BMW's design VISION;



1st BMW;



1st BMW BIKE;



& then there was nothing stopping;



BMW M6 evolution & the use of lightweight materials;



This is the 1st time BMW used the terminology " 328 " with this car - Such a proud moment for me being owning a 328i now



This was the most successful car for BMW in the F1;



BMW Motorrad evolution;



The many engines right from the small 4 cyl to the aircraft engines were all up close & a delight to see.



Evolution of 3 series;



To finally the F30 - Again a proud moment for me





And the entire range of models offered by BMW;



The beautiful Z8 - Note M/T



Vision Efficient Dynamics - Now i8





BMW M - Exhibition;



In the back seat of the M6 GC - Just to check the head room as this being having a stooping roofline



^ My conclusion - No complaints

The very unique colored M6 coupe;



Inside the E92 M3- And what a view to have from the windscreen, such a treat.



The explosive engine bay of the M6 GC;



& the best set of wheels in business IMO - Again of the M6 GC



On display: MINI BRAND;

And to start with the John Cooper Works edition;





M/T was a short throw, but not as slick as expected.



WRAITH;



BMW Welt Delivery podium;

To those who dont know BMW offers delivery to customers in the fascinating WELT building with a unique ambiance.

There are 3 sorts of delivery programs;

1) Premium compact - 1 hr delivery time
2) Premium Delivery - Premium delivery you get to discover the BMW brand in all its facets.
3) Premium Plus - The Premium Plus program involves collecting your new BMW in a separate room.

* Note: All three programs include individual assistance provided by a personal customer consultant.



^ WELT Delivery underway

A Bikers lodge was present inside the WELT;



Suddenly i heard a car fired up & was roaring for attention it did a few rounds inside the WELT i came up to see which car was it & found it to be a BMW 1M Safety Car - Was such a treat to hear the 1M (Adding to my luck, the instructor inside red-lined once too)

[karan561]

ROLLS ROYCE MUSEUM;

This was the entrance into for the Royce museum, quite special IMO;



Frankly Im not much into classics or vintage, but these beauties on display were truly a sight to behold.





The evolution of the signature Radiator Grille;



The latest Royce's;



My personal favorite - The Drophead Coupe



Phantom Coupe;



A demonstration of exquisite craftsmanship ;



BMW Plant visit;


^ Pic source - Welt Website

SORRY NO PICTURES - As photography was strictly prohibited.

But to give a backdrop;

- BMW Munich Plant is the BMW Group's parent plant.

- The plant produces around 200,000 automobiles and 300,000 engines per year.

What i saw ?


The Munich plant is the home to manufacture 3 series (F30, F31), X1 & the latest 4 series

Right from the sheet metal to the paint shops to the final assembly line, this guided tour covers it all.

Also this is the only plant where the latest N20 (engine from my 328i) is made, so it got me a bit nostalgic & surely was an honor to be present at the same place where my car was BORN.

As no pics were allowed i have come across a video of the production of an F30 at the same Munich plant, you can have a look;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=libw1rV2McY

BMW on DEMAND;

BMW on Demand is a facility where you can experience & drive Sheer Driving pleasure by driving/ renting a BMW by the hour.

The choices are vast like the M135i, M3, M5 to the mighty M6 GC.

The X Drive models were present too, even the X6M

^ I missed out on this one as you had to prebook a day in advance to get your choice as normally it is all overbooked be it weekday or weekend

I had a choice of driving a 3 series GT (335i) but was too ugly for my taste, so had to pass on this.

The rates are pretty affordable to be honest, per hour start from about 30 Euros / Hr for some thing like a 1 series, goes upto about 75 Euros/ Hr for like say an M5.

The crunch here is if you book it for 3 hrz you get to keep it for an entire day, which is pretty cool. (For example you pick up at 9 am in the morning you may drop it off by 6 pm - which is closing time)

Rates/charges; - For people planning a visit;

- BMW WELT (Free Access)
- BMW Museum Ticket (8 Euros) - Includes RR Museum
- BMW Plant Guided Tour in English (9 Euros)


---

And finally after spending the entire day in BMW World/Heaven heres me with a smile on my face that reflects every time i START my BMW.



^ BMW HQ, Munich

[parrys]

Thanks Karan for this German photologue.
My personal favorite from the cars above : The Mini - John Cooper Works edition.

[abishek2222]

Fantastic , Thanks for the neat write up.Definitely need to make this trip sometime. Awesome and happy to see the pics

[karan561]

BTW, forgot to say i got an insight of the i3 which was parked outside the WELT & was left on charge. The engineer testing it was around & had the keys so got to experience it 1st hand from interior as well & spent good 10 mins with the car.

Very impressed with the car though pricey will surely turn heads & is more like a statement.



^ Also the car the way it is is designed & looks in the pics is pretty fragile & delicate, but in flesh was pretty impressed with the build quality.

Originally Posted by parrys

Thanks Karan for this German photologue.
My personal favorite from the cars above : The Mini - John Cooper Works edition.

hi parrys,

Thanks, i appreciate your comments.

Well truly the John cooper works Mini was very desirable. But my personaly favorite of the lot was the M6 GC

Originally Posted by abishek2222

Fantastic , Thanks for the neat write up.Definitely need to make this trip sometime. Awesome and happy to see the pics

Hey abishek2222,

Thanks, you surely should visit the Welt if you are in Munich.

PS - Apologies for poor quality pics (iphone camera) as was not equipped with any other camera.

[selfdrive]

Great account of your visit, brings back some old memories. Of course, the place has many more new additions since then!

Did you manage to meet any bhpians there? There is at least one in BMW that I know of!

[swapszone]

Awesome. Thanks for sharing.
will meet you personally to hear more.

[amansanc]

Awesome thread!
Had been to the museum in 2011 when i went there on a student exchange program
Looks like quite a few things have changed since then. I did not see the Mini and Rolls royce museum that time. Is it that they are newly started??
Although i wanted to go to the factory, i couldn't go due to the tight schedule :(

OT- I visited the Audi factory situated in Neckarsulm. What an experience it was! Not to mention, these two visits were the best part of my trip

[karan561]

Originally Posted by selfdrive

Great account of your visit, brings back some old memories. Of course, the place has many more new additions since then!

Did you manage to meet any bhpians there? There is at least one in BMW that I know of!

Hey selfdrive thanks man !

I had no idea about that otherwise would have surely met if i knew any BHPian was working there.

Can you name the person for the benefit of others ?

Originally Posted by swapszone

Awesome. Thanks for sharing.
will meet you personally to hear more.

Hey Swapnil,

Thanks a lot man, hope you are doing great.

Shall catch up soon

Originally Posted by amansanc

Awesome thread!
Had been to the museum in 2011 when i went there on a student exchange program
Looks like quite a few things have changed since then. I did not see the Mini and Rolls royce museum that time. Is it that they are newly started??

Hi amansanc,

Rolls Royce museum is pretty much new, i think it opened up in March 2013

[miharbe]

Excellent report Karan

It's amazing coincidence that the same was featured on this weeks Car and Bike show on NDTV as well. Needless to say their report wasn't half as exhaustive!

Thanks for the report it helped me add another item to my bucket list!

[chandrda]

Excellent Photos

I have tried twice to squeeze in some time to visit the BMW Factory, but couldn't.

These photos are making me determined to visit next year.

Regards

[Dodge_Viper]

Thanks a lot for the virtual tour Karan . Indeed the M6 has become my favourite too!

Looking forward for an extensive shoot(with camera of course) of your beemer in the next Powai drive/meet, if you don't mind . Waiting since long!

[karan561]

Also i'd like to share another equally exciting encounter with BMW beauties during my Munich visit.

The hotel i was staying next to which there was what seemed to be a BMW Press & Commercial Events Cars stockyard.

In short this is where BMW stocks their press, launch & test cars.

I happened to know someone who works there & had the opportunity to get in & have a look at all their STOCK

And the entrance looked like this;



And after the 1st door opened, these were the cars which were present on my 1st sight (Like 5'er LCI, 3 GT, 7'er, X3 etc)

I asked him where is the 4 series ?

He replied, " lets go find the 4 series, its surely here somewhere"



And a few more doors opened up, where now seen here is the M6 GC & a few M135i's in the background



Simply WOW & dropdead gorgeous - The M6 GC



& finally spotted the 4 series at some distance;



Oh yea ! This is the 4 series M-Sport



And more cars, notice the Green M3 - very unique color



^ There were about 900 cars stocked here, thats massive IMO

Absolute precious moment for me - Checking out a M/T F30 328i sportline (Wish i could have got a M/T 328i for myself)



Spent about an hour in this facility and left with complete JOY.

[swapszone]

Karan, did you see some cars that are not yet launched in India, like the 5 series LCI, X3 LCI and the new X5. Saw the 4 though. Couldn't find the others.

[shankar.balan]

Originally Posted by swapszone

Karan, did you see some cars that are not yet launched in India, like the 5 series LCI, X3 LCI and the new X5. Saw the 4 though. Couldn't find the others.

Here is the new Beemer 4-er...parked at Frankfurt Airport as part of a Beemer publicity exercise. Lovely car indeed, with its Red toned interiors!