Office profile
BMW Group Headquarters & offices · Munich, Germany
BMW Group · Munich, Germany
A 99.5-metre tower of four cylinders whose office floors hang from a steel cross on the roof — built from the top down in 1970–72.
The Four-Cylinder, its cloverleaf open-plan floors and 110 years of BMW addresses in the north of Munich — then the benefits and the business. Every number from BMW's own reports, press kits and careers site.
- 99.5 mFour-Cylinder height, just above the Frauenkirche towers
- 16,800 tof tower suspended from a cross on the roof
- 30 daysholiday a year (Germany, full-time)
- 154,540employees worldwide, end of 2025
Sources: BMW Group press kit “40 years of BMW Headquarters and Museum” (2013) · bmwgroup.jobs Benefits · BMW Group Report 2025
Companies / Germany / Automobiles / BMW Group
THE FOUR-CYLINDER · 1973
18 office floors of open-plan cloverleaves, hanging from the roof
Karl Schwanzer gave every floor a cloverleaf plan: four circular segments around a core, crossed by two corridors that link the team offices. BMW says most of the segments are still open-plan offices and that individual offices are “few and far between”, so trainees and heads of department sit in team offices. In the entrance foyer hang Gerhard Richter's three “Red – Yellow – Blue” paintings, made for this lobby in 1973 and shown since 2023 in climate-controlled glass cases.
- ≈ 53,000 m² useful area (≈ 570,000 sq ft)
- 22 storeys, 18 of them offices
- Work for about 1,500 people
- Listed building since 1999
- Design: Karl Schwanzer
- Renovation: Peter P. Schweger (2004–06)
The Four-Cylinder, Munich
Karl Schwanzer's 1973 tower hangs its office floors from a cross-shaped structure at the top; Peter P. Schweger renewed it in 2004–06.
Facts: BMW Group press kit “40 years of BMW Headquarters and Museum” (2013) · BMW Group press release on Gerhard Richter's “Red – Yellow – Blue”, Oct 5, 2023
The Four-Cylinder and its neighbours, Munich-Milbertshofen
| Building | Address |
|---|---|
| BMW Group Headquarters (Four-Cylinder) | Petuelring 130, 80788 München, Germany |
| BMW Museum (“Museum Bowl”) | Beside the tower, at the corner of Petuelring and Lerchenauer Straße, Munich |
| BMW Group Classic (1918 factory halls) | Moosacher Straße 66, 80809 München, Germany |
Source: BMW Group Report 2025 (registered seat) · bmwgroup.com imprint and BMW Group Classic directions · 2013 press kit (museum site) · See them on the map ↓
Source: BMW Group press kit “40 years of BMW Headquarters and Museum” (2013), Dossier: facts & figures. Conversions to sq ft and ft by eciffo.
Office tour videos
Benefits (Germany)
Six weeks a year for full-time employees, less for part-time.
Up to 20 extra days off a year, with a matching reduction in pay.
Up to 20 working days of mobile work from abroad (e.g. EU countries) under certain conditions.
Holiday pay once a year, a Christmas bonus and a profit share, on top of collective pay agreements.
A company-financed pension, plus personal pension capital (PVK) and BMW employee shares.
BMW's own kindergartens and leave options for child or family care.
Own fitness studios and sports facilities, company health insurance and company doctors.
Apartment houses for trainees, students and colleagues staying up to six months.
Source: bmwgroup.jobs “Benefits for graduates & professionals” and its Salary, Working time and Holidays pages. BMW notes benefits vary slightly by location; it also offers discounted BMW, MINI and BMW Motorrad cars and bikes.
Why people stay, in BMW's own words
7,845 employees left during the year (4.1% in 2024).
Autumn 2025 employee survey, with a record 90% taking part.
Trendence named BMW the most attractive employer across all target groups in 2025 — first among academic professionals for the 14th year in a row.
An average of 17.7 training hours per employee; a new Talent Campus opened in Munich in 2025.
89% in Germany, 100% in China; works councils at European level since 1995.
In favour of women — mostly because more men work in production, where pay is lower.
Source: BMW Group Report 2025, Sustainability Statement (ESRS S1 Own Workforce)
Who works here
employees in Germany (2025)
of managers are women
are under 30
had a regular performance and career review
Source: BMW Group Report 2025, ESRS S1 (headcount by region, country, gender and age; includes the joint operation Spotlight pro rata). The key-figure total is 154,540. Shares calculated by eciffo.
Office history: 110 years within a mile of the same airfield
- 1916 Born beside an airfield
BMW counts its birthday from the founding of Bayerische Flugzeugwerke (BFW), the reorganised aircraft maker of Gustav Otto, on March 7, 1916. In 1917 Karl Rapp's engine works was renamed Bayerische Motorenwerke and the blue-and-white logo appeared.
Source: bmwgroup.com, History · BMW Group Classic blog “Looking ahead. Into the past.”
Gustav Otto's aircraft works by the Oberwiesenfeld airfield, Munich, 1911 · Flottweg / CC BY 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons - 1918 Moosacher Straße: the first big engine halls
From 1918 BMW built aero engines in large numbers in new halls on Moosacher Straße, opposite an airfield. In late 1920 brake maker Knorr-Bremse took over the whole site.
Source: BMW Group press release on the BMW Group Classic site · BMW Group Classic blog
The 1916–18 administration building on Moosacher Straße, today Knorr-Bremse's headquarters · Knorr-Bremse AG / CC BY-SA 2.5 · Wikimedia Commons - 1922 Oberwiesenfeld: the home plant
Financier Camillo Castiglioni bought BMW's name, logo, engine works and workforce, merged them into BFW and moved the company to BFW's plant at Oberwiesenfeld in Milbertshofen — still home to BMW's main plant and headquarters.
Source: bmwgroup.com, History · press release “100 years of the BMW plant Munich” (2022)
The BMW plant in Munich, 1969 · Anidaat / CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons - 1966 Offices scattered across the city
Fast growth in the 1960s left no room for administration at the plant; departments moved into rented offices around Munich. On June 14, 1966 board member Wilhelm Hermann Gieschen presented plans for a new office building on Dostlerstraße, next to the plant gate.
Source: BMW Group press kit “40 years of BMW Headquarters and Museum” (July 2013)
No free-to-use photo found yet.Have one? We’d love to add it. - 1968 A competition and a full-size test floor
BMW invited eight architects. Sales director Paul Hahnemann backed Karl Schwanzer's almost 100-metre “suspended structure” and had a 1:1 model of one cloverleaf floor built at the Bavaria film studios to win over the board. Schwanzer got the commission in December 1968.
Source: BMW Group press kit “40 years of BMW Headquarters and Museum” (July 2013)
No free-to-use photo found yet.Have one? We’d love to add it. - 1973 The Four-Cylinder opens
Building began on July 16, 1970. The floors were made at ground level and jacked up about four metres a week; the tower was topped out on December 7, 1971 and stood finished for the 1972 Olympics. Staff moved in from January 22, 1973, and the tower and museum opened on May 18, 1973.
Source: BMW Group press kit “40 years of BMW Headquarters and Museum” (July 2013) · bmwgroup.com, History
Archive photo, BMW Group · Photo: BMW Group - 2004–06 Renewed inside, unchanged outside
Architect Peter P. Schweger led a full renovation: 2,304 new windows, new lifts, daylight-controlled lights and a new cafeteria. Staff moved back in August 2006, and operating costs fell by half.
Source: BMW Group press kit “40 years of BMW Headquarters and Museum” (July 2013)
After the renewal, 2013 · Photo: BMW Group - 2007–16 BMW Welt next door, and back to Moosacher Straße
BMW Welt by Coop Himmelb(l)au opened west of the tower in October 2007. In 2016 BMW Group Classic moved into the restored 1918 halls on Moosacher Straße, bringing the company back to its first factory site.
Source: bmwgroup.com, History · BMW Group press releases on BMW Group Classic
BMW Welt and the Four-Cylinder at night, 2009 · Richard Bartz / CC BY-SA 2.5 · Wikimedia Commons
Map: how the headquarters moved
BMW has stayed in one corner of north Munich for 110 years: from the first engine halls on Moosacher Straße to the Four-Cylinder on Petuelring, it is under 2 km.
- 1 · 1918Moosacher Straße 66 — First large aero-engine halls; BMW Group Classic since 2016
- 2 · 1922Oberwiesenfeld plant, Milbertshofen — BFW plant; BMW's main plant ever since
- 3 · 1973Four-Cylinder, Petuelring 130 — Today's headquarters
Places: bmwgroup.com History and BMW Group Classic directions · BMW Group Report 2025 (Petuelring 130). No street address is published for the 1922 plant, so it is shown at the plant site.
What BMW Group does
BMW builds premium cars under the BMW, MINI and Rolls-Royce brands and motorcycles under BMW Motorrad, and finances and leases them through its own bank. In 2025 it delivered 2,463,681 cars, about one in six of them fully electric.
Four segments: Automotive, Motorcycles, Financial Services and Other Entities.
Where the money came from · revenues by segment, 2025 (before eliminations)
Source: BMW Group full-year 2025 results release (March 2026) and Report 2025. Group revenues after eliminating inter-segment sales: €133.5B. By region: Europe 44.7%, Asia 28.9%, Americas 24.0%.
Source: BMW Group Report 2025, Ten-Year Comparison · full-year 2025 results release · per-employee revenue calculated by eciffo
Growth: revenue vs. people
€94.2B → €133.5B
124,729 → 154,540
Calendar years. Revenues and employees at year-end: BMW Group Report 2025, Ten-Year Comparison. Until 2018 the employee count also included temporary staff, interns, apprentices and others (about 7.5–8% of the total); BMW Brilliance is fully consolidated from 2022. Multiples calculated by eciffo.
Chief executives
Chairman of the Board of Management. Joined BMW in 1993; Board member for Production from October 2019.
Chairman of the Board of Management from August 2019 until the Annual General Meeting on May 13, 2026.
Roots: Gustav Otto's Flugmaschinenfabrik (BFW, 1916) and Karl Rapp's Rapp Motorenwerke (renamed BMW in 1917).
Source: BMW Group press releases on the CEO succession (2025) and the 106th Annual General Meeting (2026) · BMW Group Report 2025 · bmwgroup.com, History
BMW Group: questions people ask
Where is BMW's headquarters?
In the Four-Cylinder tower at Petuelring 130, 80788 Munich, Germany — next to BMW's main plant in Milbertshofen, the BMW Museum and BMW Welt.
Source: BMW Group Report 2025 · bmwgroup.com
Who designed the BMW headquarters?
The Viennese architect Karl Schwanzer, who won a 1968 competition among eight invited architects. Hamburg architect Peter P. Schweger led the 2004–2006 renovation.
Source: BMW Group press kit “40 years of BMW Headquarters and Museum” (July 2013)
Why is it called the Four-Cylinder?
The tower is made of four cylinders that form a cloverleaf plan, so it looks like a four-cylinder engine. BMW itself calls it the “Four-Cylinder”.
Source: BMW Group press kit “40 years of BMW Headquarters and Museum” (July 2013) · bmwgroup.com, History
How tall and how big is the BMW tower?
99.5 metres (about 326 ft) with 22 storeys, 18 of them office floors, and a useful area of about 53,000 m² (about 570,000 sq ft). In 2013 it held about 1,500 jobs.
Source: BMW Group press kit “40 years of BMW Headquarters and Museum” (July 2013)
How was the tower built?
It is a suspended building: the four cylinders hang from a cross-shaped structure on top of a concrete core. Floors were built at ground level and lifted hydraulically, so the top floors were finished first.
Source: BMW Group press kit “40 years of BMW Headquarters and Museum” (July 2013)
When did BMW move into the Four-Cylinder?
Staff began moving in on January 22, 1973, and the tower and museum were officially opened on May 18, 1973.
Source: BMW Group press kit “40 years of BMW Headquarters and Museum” (July 2013)
What benefits does BMW offer in Germany?
30 days' holiday for full-time staff, up to 20 extra days off through “Full-time Select”, holiday pay, a Christmas bonus and a profit share, a company-financed pension, own kindergartens and fitness studios.
Source: bmwgroup.jobs Benefits
Can BMW employees work from home?
BMW offers a mix of on-site and mobile working, flexitime, part-time and job sharing, and under certain conditions up to 20 working days a year of mobile work from abroad.
Source: bmwgroup.jobs, Flexible working hours
How many people work at BMW?
154,540 employees at the end of 2025, including 87,436 (headcount) in Germany. Employee turnover was 5.0% in 2025.
Source: BMW Group Report 2025
Who is BMW's CEO?
Milan Nedeljković, Chairman of the Board of Management since May 14, 2026. He succeeded Oliver Zipse, who had led BMW since August 2019.
Source: BMW Group press releases, 2025 and 2026
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