Yahoo Autos We go inside the facility where BMW recycles prototype vehicles — turning cars into cubes
GARCHING, Germany — The camouflaged prototypes that our spies chase all around the world have a difficult life. They're usually pre-production cars, so they can't be sold to the public and they need to be destroyed after engineers put them through their paces. How do you get rid of a test mule? Not by sending it to Pick-n-Pull. I visited a BMW facility near Munich, Germany, to learn what happens to a prototype when it's no longer needed.
Located in Garching, about 15 minutes north of BMW's headquarters, the recycling facility resembles a run-of-the-mill European junkyard when viewed from the outside. It takes only a quick peek over the gate to realize its importance: the 15-year-old hatchbacks and station wagons you find in most European junkyards are nowhere to be seen, and the lot is full recent BMW, Mini, and even Rolls-Royce models.
Cars get shipped to Garching from the numerous testing facilities that BMW operates globally, including one that recently opened in the Czech Republic. Many are camouflaged, but some look like what you'd find sitting in front of your local BMW dealership. The condition that they arrive in depends on how they were used. Many are intact, but a handful are wrecked because they were used to test safety systems.
Think of the lot as your local DMV's waiting room. Cars get unloaded and parked (or sometimes stacked on a giant shelf using a forklift) while they wait for their number to be called. Not a lot initially catches my eyes as I look around: There are quite a few 7 Series test mules, over a dozen crossovers and SUVs, a couple of M3s, and even a handful of motorcycles. But then, I spot an odd shape near the fence: an ActiveE prototype! Based on the E82-generation 1 Series, the coupe was built for a pilot program launched to test electric systems in 2011.
