We know Germans are dry, humorless people. But a nearly narration-less 75-minute video about the production process of the BMW i3 is nearly pathological. If you’re willing to slog through it, though, you’ll see some cool stuff.
Take part one of the four-part video series, which focuses on the construction of the carbon fiber body, which is – believe it or not – assembled here in the U.S. at a BMW carbon fiber facility in Moses Lake, Washington – relatively not too far from Digital Trends headquarters.
Part two delves into the very Germanic stuff, the electronic transmission assembly. While this bit is rather dry, it gives you a good idea of how many gosh darn parts go into modern transmissions and how dour the men look who assemble them.
Finally some color! Part three takes us into the body pressing and paint booth where the i3 range-extended luxury EV is given several healthy coatings of gray paint. Remember, Germans don’t know how to paint a car incorrectly so this should be pretty educational for you shade-tree auto body specialists.
Lastly, in part four, we come to final assembly where a series of men in blue jumpsuits put all the bits together to form a rolling i3 in all its gold-grey luster.
OK, we’ll admit, you’d have to be a glutton for punishment to watch all 75 minutes of this video series (we didn’t). It is an interesting look, though, into how a car that BMW hopes will be a smashing success is made.
Let’s just hope the BMW i3 is a bit more exciting to drive than it is to watch it being built.
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