BMW Group Plant Debrecen, which already has countless links to the everyday life of the Debrecen community, welcomed the record 118,000 visitors to the Campus Festival with the BMW i Vision Circular study car, a premium booth, its own stage, as well as a large number of enthusiastic associates. The 15th Campus Festival in Debrecen was a huge success: by 2023, the four-day event has become the largest music festival targeting a Hungarian audience. Friday, featuring performers Parov Stelar, Azariah and Tankcsapda, was a packed house, with more than 35,000 people visiting the area around Nagyerdei Stadium.
BMW Group Plant Debrecen, scheduled to start manufacturing all-electric vehicles in 2025, has been an active participant in the city’s vibrant life already during the construction years, so the participation of the company’s team at Campus Festival, a much awaited event by many people, was a matter of course. The Bavarian premium carmaker prepared for the event with exceptional programmes and activties. On the Job Street of Campus Festival, featuring local employers, there was much interest at the BMW Group’s spectacular and airy booth, where associates of the plant under construction welcomed visitors, and which also served as a venue for talks with Hans-Peter Kemser, director of BMW Group Plant Debrecen, as well as for prize draws.
“Campus Festival is one of the most important events of the year for people living in Debrecen and the surrounding communities, so we were delighted to be able to introduce ourselves at the event, and even more so to be approached with such enthusiasm and curiosity by festival-goers at our booth. At the BMW Group, we strive to make our operations worldwide an integral part of their local environments. In Debrecen, too, we take every opportunity to get involved in activities that are Plant Debrecen important to the people of the region, supporting community-building initiatives and programmes. We would like to thank our associates who provided information to the thosands of visitors with the utmost dedication over the four days of the event,” Kemser said.
The most exclusive vehicle presented by the BMW Group – and a hugely popular attraction at the Campus Festival – was the BMW i Vision Circular, a study car that anticipates the Bavarian premium manufacturer's compact model range for 2040. On show for the first time in Hungary, the model embodies the BMW Group’s comprehensive, all-encompassing approach focusing on long-term sustainable personal mobility. The four-seater is a fully electrically powered vehicle, which has been consistently developed by the engineers on the basis of the principles of the circular economy, as it is made 100% from recycled materials and is also 100% recyclable in its material. As such, the concept car incorporates a range of innovative ideas that combine sustainability with a new, inspiring spark. From a sustainability perspective, the approach behind the development of the NEW KLASSE generation of models will follow the same thinking as the BMW i Vision Circular study car, but the latter is not yet the much-awaited NEW KLASSE. The first production models of the new generation of purely electric models will be manufactured in 2025, right here at BMW Group Plant Debrecen.
“The opportunity to exhibit the BMW i Vision Circular study car and present it in such a direct way in Debrecen is extremely important to us. The study car made a huge impression not only our team, but also to visitors to the festival, regardless of age, gender or even interest in the world of automobility,” said Réka Jenei, director of communications.
The BMW Group Plant Debrecen was also present at Campus Festival with a stage offering music performances. The special BMW iFactory stage, which is always the venue for fantastic concerts, was created in the spirit of the values represented by Plant Debrecen the plant under construction. Featuring visual cues referring to circularity and futureoriented technological solutions, the stage was powered by solar panels for the premium sound and lighting technology and the stage itself was largely built using recycled materials.
The BMW Group is building a comprehensive vehicle factory in Debrecen with a press shop, body work, paint shop, vehicle assembly, as well as a unique battery module plant, which will allow the in-house assembly of the battery cells necessary for the electric drive. Over the past year, BMW Group Plant Debrecen has seen a huge development both in terms of recruitment and the construction, with the workforce increasing fivefold, reaching 500, and with more and more buildings beginning to take their final shape. BMW Group Plant Debrecen will start production in 2025 with more than 1,500 employees, and that will be the year also when the first model of the all-electric NEUE KLASSE, which will debut in Debrecen, will roll off the production line.
