Did you know the M5’s beating heart is built just off the M6? We mark the Warwickshire factory’s 25th birthday
Quite a birthday present. As BMW’s Hams Hall engine factory turns 25, it does so with a fresh production line powering a halo product.
You would be forgiven for not knowing about this hidden gem of the British car industry; while headlines go to Nissan, Toyota, JLR and Mini for volume car production on UK soil, this 85-acre facility built more than 400,000 powertrains last year alone -taking its total past 7.6 million since opening on 8 February 2001.
It also machines components for BMW’s other engine facility in Steyr, Austria, extending its productivity further.
The three- and four-cylinder engines used in Minis and entry-level BMWs have been a stalwart of Hams Hall. Production began with the 316ti Compact’s modest 1.8-litre petrol engine in 2001, heralding the debut of Valvetronic (and its efficiency benefits) as it did so.
But BMW’s chiselled Neue Klasse era has recently upped the glamour in the West Midlands: from 2022, the production of V8s and V12s began to move from Munich to Hams Hall to free up space in Bavaria for the next chapter of electrification.
Now, internal-combustion Rolls-Royces and M division’s finest all procure their power from an unassuming industrial estate a dozen miles from Birmingham.
So I had no other choice but to turn up to celebrate in a ‘G99’ M5 Touring, all £135,408 and 717bhp of it, especially since the source of that power was built in Brum.
We’re not merely here to sip cocktails or play musical chairs, though. Autocar has come for an intimate tour – and specifically of the V8 line. Rather ominously, I’ve been asked my glove and shoe size…
Hams Hall houses 1700 staff working across three shift slots, right around the clock, five days a week. Two of those employees are my tour guides today: James McDonald and Ben Hackett both occupy leader roles in ‘V engines’.
The existing three- and four-cylinder line prioritises machinery and robotisation, but 84% of the V8 line is hands-on for its employees, with automated processes reserved for the most intricate or repetitive of tasks. (The 6.75-litre V12s destined for the long bonnet of Rolls-Royce products are 100% hand-built, I hasten to add.)
“The V8 engine is a bit of a beast, and you’ve got to want to do it to be able to get into it,” says McDonald. “It can be quite daunting when you first look at a finished V engine. With the customers you’re building these for, the expectation level goes up.” The products this ‘S68’ unit powers are typically used much harder, in other words.
Hackett guides me through the friendly gate of the Assembly Competence Centre, a verbose title for what’s essentially a screened-off (but open-roofed) section within the plant hall. The idea is that trainees get accustomed to working amid the hustle and bustle of a constantly running production line – a sensation that a sterile classroom could never hope to provide.
“It’s a pressure-free, risk-free environment,” he says. “You can take your time. You’d typically be here for your first full week. There’s no kind of speed requirements and everything is laid out step by step. You’d go onto the line itself after a week or so. ‘Quality first’ is the main port of call.”
I’m then handed to Stephen Herczeg, a trainer in V engine production, for whistlestop tuition in fitting a pair of exhaust manifolds to the banks of the S68’s 90deg vee. Herczeg had not touched the internals of an engine bay before moving from Mini Plant Oxford to Hams Hall 18 months ago, proving the worth of the coaching he now provides.
Gloves and safety shoes are fitted, then a large touchscreen (and Herczeg’s consummate patience) carries me through the process, making the fiddly task of manually starting each fastening a bit less daunting.
My butter fingers could push Hackett’s ‘pressure-free’ philosophy to its limit, but I’m satisfied with my job. How quickly I’d graduate from training booth to production proper accurately and repeatedly fitting manifolds within a three-minute window – I’d rather not estimate.
The digitisation of this training session is emblematic of the real process on the production line. “Digital worker guidance takes some of the complexity and responsibility from our workers,” clarifies plant director Dirk Dreher. “It’s shy support in the background.”
Every engine component and the torque of every bolt fixing it (and the order of their tightening) is sequenced and logged – and forever linked to the car into which the powertrain eventually slots. As is the forensic log of photographs of the engine’s internals.
The Hams Hall staff grin from ear to ear at the chance to show me the inner workings of the V8 that hustled me down the M6 Toll this morning. Indeed, it’s this exact shift during which it was produced in October 2024, so I’m shaking many of the hands that crafted it. It’s not even my car, but I’ve got a glowing ember inside that’s impossible to extinguish.
Zee Ahsan is a digitisation specialist who joined Hams Hall from the finance team at BMW’s British HQ in Farnborough. He is just one example of talent being sourced from across the business. “It’s a lot faster-paced here, much more creative and hands-on,” he smiles.
Ahsan lets me peep into the box where a robotised camera, equipped with its own bank of knowledge on the internals of an S68 engine and the appearance of good and bad cylinder heads, snaps pictures and flags any issues. The philosophy is that artificial intelligence supplements manual labour rather than replaces it.
My tour through the 43 processes and 47 people on the V8 line sees my ham fists put to use splitting conrods, moving turbos from crate to dressing station and attempting to fit a wiring harness.
It’s another deeply forensic job that needs an absence of time and pressure in order to gain confidence at it. A wealth of Hams Hall talent helps me, lest I drop a literal spanner in the works and lengthen the delivery time of someone’s super-saloon or wagon.
This is a big plant with high output – but the level of manual input on the V8 line draws the requisite passion out of the folks applying it. Tour – and impromptu shift – complete, I peel off my gloves for a slice of birthday cake before commuting home to Manchester in the M5.
On the morning run here I’d leant into its ‘electrified limo’ swagger, cruising with nary a gearchange or flare of revs. Having seen the meticulous work that went into making its engine – and witnessed the smiles of those responsible – I’m left with no choice but to take a much more engaging route home, wringing for all its worth the expertise of the effervescent team I’ve met today.
Understanding the immense know-how that’s gone into this twin-turbo 4.4-litre V8 – a careful mix of traditional skill and AI automation – I know more of its 7200rpm must be explored. Give every M5 owner a Hams Hall tour and I’m sure they would all be less inclined to shuffle around on battery power, uncorking the full potential of their car at every (safe) opportunity.
“It certainly sounds better than early F90-generation cars,” read Autocar’s original road test, proving that increasing noise regulations needn’t be fatal.
“The V8 revs with plenty of dramatic ferocity above 5000rpm, the new M5 endowed with the sort of performance that can be poured on almost any which way that suits both you and the road ahead and which never disappoints.”
Masked by the numerous headlines about the heavy, hybridised, four-wheel-drive car it powers, this V8 has almost flown under the radar. Yet its adoption ensures the first plug-in M5 steps over the bear trap that snapped tight around the four-cylinder Mercedes-AMG C63.
It remembers that sound, sensation and some thoroughbred heritage remain crucial to cars such as these. It is a marvellous engine with a thriving factory to thank for its existence. Happy birthday, Hams Hall.
The bosses would like a word
Accompanying us on our tour is Dirk Dreher, plant director at Hams Hall. He has been at BMW for 25 years and in the Midlands since 2020; previous work across the BMW logistics network means he already knew the worth of this factory and, specifically, its people.
“Machines don’t have a culture,” says Dreher, “but BMW people have a strong culture for forward thinking. The brain is still so strong; it can’t be replaced for highly complicated and complex tasks. The more repetitive something is, the better and easier it is to invest in an automated process.”
He cites the variety of parts and processes needed on the V8 line given the iterations of this engine’s applications beyond the M5 – as a reason to keep humans at the core of every process.
“We might see more from AI,” he says. “But we still value the brain and its supervision of the process to ask ‘is this right?’ and think from the customer’s perspective. It’s difficult to train a machine to have that passion.”
Harald Gottsche, BMW’s head of engine production, adds: “The Hams Hall plant is an integral part of our global production network. The site combines technological expertise with high flexibility. It reliably supplies our vehicle plants with efficient, powerful engines of premium quality. This includes the V12 engine for Rolls-Royce – a masterpiece from Hams Hall.”
The power of youth
Jess Perry, a mechanical engineering graduate from Loughborough University, started at Hams Hall as an intern at the beginning of V engine production.
“I liked it,” she says, “and wanted to come back.”
Following placements at different departments – including two months over in Munich – she now works on machine vision: the use of imaging hardware to analyse and improve quality and consistency across the engines produced here. It’s fresh thinking that complements neatly the precise, hand-built aspects of the engine.
Plant boss Dirk Dreher says: “It’s important to have fresh eyes, to have access to a new knowledge base and new technologies. If we need digitalisation power, the grads and interns are great. Roughly half of our interns now come from the computer science side to support the state-of-the-art technologies we are now using.”
Buy your own Hams Hall hero
BMW 316ti, 2001-2004, £1000-£8000 4 cyls in line, 1796cc, petrol (114bhp, 129lb ft)
The first car to gain Hams Hall handiwork under its bonnet-and the first BMW with Valvetronic – was this entry version of the ‘E46’ 3 Series Compact. While not the most adored of old BMWs, its price operates at the baseline of usable modern classics and unlike current small Bee-Ems, it’s rear-wheel drive. Surely an oddball shoo-in for starring at future Festivals of the Unexceptional and their ilk.
BMW 320si, 2006-2007, £3000-£10,000, 4 cyls in line, 1997cc, petrol (171bhp, 148lb ft)
BMW homologated its World Touring Car Championship entry with a 2600-car run of geekily modified four-pot ‘E90’ 3 Series saloons, around 10% of which appear to still be in the UK. The modified and hand-built N45820 engine gained a carbonfibre cylinder head cover to save around 10kg. A sonorous 7300rpm peak is tucked beneath subtle styling. Good luck finding one..
Mini Cooper S (R56), 2006-2013, £1000-£10,000, 4 cyls in line, 1598cc, turbo, petrol (172bhp, 192lb ft)
Myriad Minis have called upon Hams Hall power, but the one with perhaps the greatest purity of purpose is a stock, second-gen Cooper S. While beaten by RS Clios in its day, hindsight casts a bright spotlight on its beautifully judged mixture of old-school cornering attitude and smart interior, whose tech and quality doesn’t stand in the way of a slender kerb weight. Buy sagely and it will feel like an utter bargain.
BMW i8, 2014-2020, £25,000-£65,000 3 cyls in line, 1499cc, turbo, petrol, plus electric motor (357bhp, 420lb ft)
The i8 is the ultimate expression of Hams Hall powertrain know-how and the car many workers tout as their favourite from the factory’s hall of fame. Early cars are now well below £30,000 if your nerves can handle a near-six-figure mileage. Around £35,000 gets you something mid-production run with 30,000 miles or fewer, while end-of-line 18 Roadsters kick off at £45,000.
Mini John Cooper Works GP, (F56) 2020 £30,000-£35,000 4 cyls in line, 1998cc, turbo, petrol (302bhp, 332lb ft)
All right, it’s not our favourite of the GP trilogy, but this is still a rare and appealing beast, despite its automatic-only philosophy. Fiery petrol hot hatches are rare things brand new, and thus values of the UK’s 550 GP3s have dropped barely 10% since launch. There is a wealth of cars from £30,000; the GP Touring Pack is a desirable option, with its automatic air-con, heated seats and enhanced infotainment.
