The new 2023 BMW 7 Series is the brand’s most advanced model when it comes to technology. Not only does the 7 Series have automatic doors akin to a Rolls-Royce, but also a unique two-tone paint similar to a model from Goodwood. Bear in mind the G70 is not the first BMW in recent times to get a two-tone finish. Last year, China received a Cashmere Silver metallic/Aventurine Red special edition for China based on the M760i limited to 25 cars. Yet, this is the first time BMW has opened the ordering book for any customer who wants a two-tone paint.
The new 7 Series is built at Plant Dingolfing where BMW invested over €300 million to ready the plant for production of the new luxury limousine. Part of that investment went to the printshop where BMW established a special process for the two-tone paintwork. To learn more about the new paint technique, we sat down with Bernd Gress, Head of Painted Body Technology Dingolfing Plant. The 51-year-old is responsible for the press plant, body shop and paint shop production areas.
Gress, a mechanical engineer, has been with the BMW Group for 25 years and has already held various managerial positions in the production network, including at the Munich and Hams Hall locations and in China. He has worked in areas such as quality and assembly and was most recently responsible for production concepts for the BMW luxury class and Rolls-Royce in Munich.
We asked Herr Gress to describe the physical production line changes and updated processes that were needed to integrate the two-paint option. “We have established a special process in the paint shop for two-tone paint application that combines fully automated large-scale standard production processes with our experts’ manual painting skills, Gress says. “This naturally makes the process a lot more time-consuming than one-paint application.”
At one point, it took almost 12 hours to move a vehicle through the complete paint process. So we wondered whether a two-tone paint job adds extra time to the production of one vehicle. “Lead times for a regular standard finish are currently under ten hours; for two-tone paintwork, we allow several hours…
