BMW pushes 3D printing into real series production

From prototype toy to production tool

The BMW Group has spent decades with 3D printing, but mostly in the corners: prototypes, jigs, one-off parts. That is changing. The company now says components made by Wire Arc Additive Manufacturing (WAAM) will enter series production, the first time this process reaches high-volume car building at BMW.

BMW has used additive manufacturing since 1990. What is new is the shift from special solutions to a standing part of how cars get built. The company states additive parts are already used in series production vehicles across all its brands, including BMW, Mini, and Rolls-Royce.

Why WAAM matters here

Wire Arc Additive Manufacturing is borrowed from aerospace. It builds large metal structures by laying down welded bead after welded bead, then machining the result to shape. For big single-piece parts that would otherwise need expensive tooling or many welded sections, it is a neat fit.

The payoff is speed and flexibility. Daniel Schafer, Senior Vice President for Production Integration and Pilot Plant, says processes like additive manufacturing shorten development cycles and get vehicles to series maturity faster, while cutting component production times.

The campus behind it

BMW runs an Additive Manufacturing Campus that pulls the work together. Timo Gobel has said the technology is showing strong growth across the product lifecycle, and the group will keep investing. Series production components from WAAM are expected to arrive from 2027.

This is the detail that separates hype from plan. A carmaker talking about 3D printing is old news. A carmaker scheduling printed metal parts for production models is a different claim, and BMW is putting a year on it.

What it means for the rest of us

Do not expect a 3D-printed engine block in your showroom car next year. The early parts will be structures where printing beats traditional methods, not where casting already wins.

Still, when a brand with BMW's scale treats additive as production infrastructure rather than a lab curiosity, the whole supplier chain feels the pull. The technology stops being a demo and starts being a line item. That is the real story here.