If you happen to’ve been studying my articles for the previous 5 years, you may need seen that I’m an monumental BMW fanatic.
Whereas I’ll all the time lust after a 964 Porsche Turbo or a 1967 Shelby Mustang, I can’t think about ever parting with my BMW to personal both. I bleed blue and white, plain and easy. So, it’s a bit embarrassing to confess that I waited 26 years to go to the holy grail of BMW fandom: BMW Welt.
Okay, possibly not fairly 26, since BMW Welt solely got here into existence after a design competitors in 2001. Building started in 2003, and the constructing was formally opened to the general public on October seventeenth, 2007. Sitting simply throughout the street from BMW’s headquarters and museum, it has been a Munich icon ever since.
For all intents and functions, BMW Welt is solely a ravishing BMW Group dealership. It’s house to all of the manufacturers below the BMW umbrella: from BMW manufacturing vehicles to Rolls-Royce, MINI, BMW M, and even BMW Motorrad, their bike division.
With a dynamic show space – at present house to our very personal Want for Pace BMW M3 GTR – for themed occasions and particular events, BMW Welt appears to cowl all bases in terms of offering BMW clients with an entertaining expertise surrounding their favorite model.
The house can also be used for exterior initiatives. For instance, a health club put on promoting marketing campaign was happening throughout from the M3 GTR show after I visited.
However what actually units BMW Welt aside is the expertise it presents to clients accumulating their new vehicles. Relying on the mannequin and placement, BMW homeowners can choose to take supply of their new autos at BMW Welt as a substitute of at a ‘common’ dealership.
For individuals who do, there’s the possibility to take pleasure in a manufacturing unit tour, a go to to BMW Group Basic Heart, a meal within the unique BMW Group restaurant, and even a personal inspection of their new automobile in a bespoke viewing space.
I’ve heard of BMW M homeowners flying in from the US to take their new vehicles on a European street journey earlier than delivery them again to the States.
Sadly, I wasn’t there to select up a model new M2, so I headed throughout the street to the enduring BMW ‘four-cylinder’ constructing as a substitute…
…Or, extra particularly, the BMW Museum beneath it. However I’ve to confess, the sight of an Inca Orange E12 parked below a Christmas tree stopped me in my tracks for some time. I used to personal an E12, and I miss that automobile like loopy.
Throughout my guided tour, led by one in every of BMW Welt’s advertising companions, I realized that the museum options rotating displays, with some shows altering seasonally or in response to a selected theme. The vehicles on present throughout my go to had been nothing in need of spectacular.
From the very first BMW vehicle – a license-built model of the Austin Seven, the three/17 or ‘BMW Dixi’ – to Nick Heidfeld’s F1.08 displayed on the higher degree, the museum tells the story of the model I maintain so expensive to my coronary heart.
As a proud E38 7 Sequence proprietor, it was superior to see the prototype hydrogen-powered 750hL on show – one thing I’d solely ever seen in my childhood automotive encyclopedia and on-line
Additionally on show was Jeff Koons’ beautiful E92 M3 GT2, the primary actual BMW Artwork Automobile since Jenny Holzer’s 1999 BMW V12 LMR.
I’d encourage any BMW fanatics to make the pilgrimage to Munich. My time at BMW Welt and the BMW Museum was an unforgettable expertise. And actually, I’d return in a heartbeat – even when the displays by no means change.
What an unbelievable place to go to.
Mario Christou
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