HR STRATEGY

hen the last combustion engine rolled off the production line at BMW’ s Munich plant in late 2023, it marked more than the end of 75 years of engine manufacturing. For Ilka Horstmeier, Member of the Board of Management of BMW AG, People and Real Estate, Labour Relations Director, it represented a profound moment of human transformation that would define the company’ s approach to the electric vehicle revolution.“ I knew many of the people who worked there personally – because I had the privilege of leading that plant and our worldwide engine production for seven years in total. I’ ll never forget that day,” Ilka says.“ Standing in front of them, saying:‘ This chapter ends here.’ That was a tough moment for everyone. We all shed a few tears, I can tell you.” That emotional moment encapsulates the human resources challenge at the heart of BMW’ s ambitious transformation of its Munich plant – a facility preparing to become the company’ s first existing factory to convert fully to all-electric vehicle production by the end of 2027. With serial production of a new electric sedan based on the Neue Klasse architecture scheduled to begin in 2026,

Ilka Horstmeier Member of the Board of Management of BMW AG, People and Real Estate, Labour Relations Director BMW Group

the plant faces the dual challenge of undertaking a US $ 750m overhaul while managing the most significant workforce transition in its century-long history.

The human dimension of industrial transformation For Ilka, the people element of the Munich transformation is an example to others.“ This campus is a symbol of how BMW approaches transformation: not as a technical challenge, but as a human one,” she explains. The scale of that human challenge is considerable. BMW is preparing 40,000 Munich employees for the future of mobility across multiple disciplines: electric drive trains, artificial

66 March 2026