+++ BMW Group Plant Debrecen welcomed its 1000th associate +++ The Training Centre was inaugurated +++ The relationship between the company and the University of Debrecen has been further strengthened +++ Dual training programme organised jointly with Vocational Training Centre of Debrecen was launched with 100 apprentices +++ BMW Group Plant Debrecen is closely connected to the city and the people living in the vicinity of the plant +++

In 2025, a new chapter will open in the history of Debrecen and the BMW Group: the Bavarian premium brand’s full-fledged vehicle factory will be completed and will start production, employing more than 1,500 people by then. With their involvement, the 400-hectare plant will be the first in the world to start manufacturing BMW’s revolutionary new generation of pure electric models. The road to the first Neue Klasse rolling of the production line is a long one, and 2023 marked numerous milestones along that road both for the city and the Group.

Buildings taking their final shape

In April, the plant celebrated a topping off ceremony, as the tallest building of the BMW Group Plant Debrecen, the Paint Shop, has reached its highest point. The 26- metre-high, three-storey, 90,000-square-metre complex was one of this year’s first milestones.

In the autumn, the BMW Group Plant Debrecen’s Training Centre also took its final shape. Following the opening ceremony on 30 October, the 6,500-square-metre, two-storey facility, equipped with state-of-the-art infrastructure, began training both the associates of BMW Group and the apprentices participating in the Group’s dual vocational training programme.

Reaching the one thousand associates milestone

In November 2023, the 1,000th employee joined the team of BMW Group Plant Debrecen. Thanks to intensive recruiting activities focused on Debrecen and the region, and a keen interest in the Group, the number of employees at the plant has increased almost tenfold in the last twelve months.

The BMW Group strives to provide its associates with the healthiest possible working environment worldwide, including in Debrecen. In addition to providing basic health services, the BMW Group Plant Debrecen’s Health Centre, equipped with the most modern occupational health facilities available, has welcomed associates throughout the year with screening programmes and a number of initiatives to promote health, including Pulmonology Day, blood tests, and making physiotherapy available.

Training for present and future associates

As a Group that is building the future and always developing and applying state-of- the-art technologies, the BMW Group pays particular attention to training programmes for associates and potential employees. Already in the years before production started, BMW Group Plant Debrecen entered into strategic partnerships with educational institutions in Debrecen.

On July 4, the leaders of the University of Debrecen and BMW Group Plant Debrecen signed a cooperation agreement encompassing the fields of education, science, as well as research and development. The agreement, which now covers five faculties of the University of Debrecen, takes the partnership to a whole new level. In cooperation with the Vocational Training Centre of Debrecen, BMW Group Plant Debrecen has also launched a dual vocational training programme that can serve as he basis of an entire career path. During their three year training, students also learn about state-of-the-art technical tools and solutions, including robotics, 3D printing, virtual and augmented reality solutions. The training, which is hosted in the recently opened Training Centre of BMW Group Plant Debrecen, started on 18
September with the first 100 apprentices.

This year again, the Open Day for the Automotive Industry was organised jointly by the Vocational Training Centre and BMW Group Plant Debrecen. The full-day event provided an insight into the dual training programme and was attended by nearly one thousand two hundred students, who also had the opportunity to tour the area of the plant under construction.

A constant look behind the scenes

Once again this year, the Debrecen team of BMW Group took every opportunity to give potential employees and those living in the vicinity of the plant an insight into the Group’s culture and values, its production technology and the future that the Bavarian premium manufacturer will build with its new generation of models when production starts.

In 2023, BMW Group Plant Debrecen participated as a key partner in Debrecen Drive, the largest automotive show in the Eastern Hungary region. The Debrecen team of the BMW Group welcomed visitors to the event, organised on Children’s Day weekend, with professional presentations, a Minidrive team, a 120-square -metre-stand, electric cars, quizzes, gifts and information on job opportunities.

This year, two vision cars, the precursors of the revolutionary Neue Klasse generation of models, were also showcased in Debrecen, revealing a number of innovations, some of which will be used in the models going into series production later. The future of the BMW Group is electric, recyclable and digital. The BMW i Vision Circular vision car, which embodies the company’s efforts in the field of recyclability, was on display for Campus Festival visitors to see in July. With this vision car, which was made using 100 percent recycled and 100 percent recyclable materials, the Group has provided a glimpse into the future of long-term sustainable personal mobility.

The vision car embodying the digital pillar, the BMW i Vision DEE, arrived in Hungary in October to highlight the opening of the Training Centre and was then on display for anyone to see at the MODEM Centre for Modern and Contemporary Art. The
futuristic, mid-size limousine was conceived by the designers along a simplistic design principle. The model name “DEE” stands for “Digital Emotional Experience,” an acronym that perfectly reflects the vision car’s objective: to create the closest ever connection between human and automobile.

Joining the circle of life in Debrecen

Campus Festival, where the team of BMW Group was represented by a spectacular premium stand, a stage with visual cues of circularity and forward-looking technology, as well as hundreds of enthusiastic employees, was by no means the
only event of importance to the people of Debrecen.

In April, BMW Group Plant Debrecen was the main sponsor of the "Be environmentally conscious, preventstu waste!” event on sustainability and the team also took part in Debrecen Flower Festival, held during the 20 August holiday, with an independent electric flower float. After the festival, which attracted 220,000 spectators, the hortensias used to decorate the float designed with sustainability in mind were eventually planted by the company’s staff at social and educational institutions.

In September, the team of BMW Group Plant Debrecen took part in the WizzAir Airport Run, which attracted 3,000 people, and also ensured that 600 schoolchildren were able to take part in the event free of charge as part of the “Search for the sportiest schools” campaign.

Traditionally, Debrecen boasts of one of the most beautiful Christmas markets in Hungary, with the BMW Group Plant Debrecen also contributing to the splendour of the event, just as it did last year. From the last days of November until 7 January 2024, the 750-square-metre skating rink complete with an ice corridor and sponsored by the car manufacturer will be open to the public. In 2024, the company will continue its commitment to building the future with the same momentum as this year.