How BMW Integrates Circular Economy Principles into the Design Process

Design for Circularity How BMW Integrates Circular Economy Principles into the Design Process

2026-09-16 Source: BMW | Translated by AI 3 min Reading Time

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A vehicle’s CO₂ footprint is largely determined during the early design phase. In the “Future Sustainable Car Materials” (FSCM) research project, an industry consortium led by the BMW Group is demonstrating how sustainable materials can be integrated into the automotive development process in a methodical, reliable, and digitally supported manner.

The FSCM research project, which was recently completed, is delivering innovations close to production for plastics, metals, and design at BMW.(Source: BMW) — The FSCM research project, which was recently completed, is delivering innovations close to production for plastics, metals, and design at BMW.
(Source: BMW)

For three years, the BMW Group, together with partners from industry and research, has been working as part of the FSCM project (funded by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action) to pave the way for circular material solutions. The most important insight for product developers: The circular economy is not merely a matter of materials, but requires a shift in thinking throughout the entire design process.“Reducing emissions and closing material loops is not enough in research. It is crucial that new materials are also suitable for mass production later on,” explains Martin Derks, Whole Vehicle Development, Head of Plastics at the BMW Group, and FSCM project manager. “Until then, it will take a lot of calculations, simulations, and testing. After all, a material must not only be recyclable but also meet our quality standards.”

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For three years, the BMW Group has been working with companies and research institutions from various industries to develop new material solutions for automotive manufacturing.(Source: BMW)

As part of the “Future Sustainable Car Materials” (FSCM) project, funded by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action, near-production developments were achieved in collaboration with consortium partners in the fields of plastics, metals, digitalization, and design for circularity.(Source: BMW)

The goal: to close material loops and reduce the CO2e footprint in the long term. The Metals work package focused on reducing the environmental footprint of key automotive materials such as steel and aluminum—materials that are also critical for structural integrity and safety.(Source: BMW)

In the Plastics work package, the project partners investigated how the CO₂e footprint of major vehicle component groups can be reduced through the targeted use of recycled materials without compromising safety, quality, or functionality.(Source: BMW)

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Design for Circularity: Circularity as a Design Requirement

To achieve this goal, the engineers began their work early in the development process. As part of the “Design for Circularity” work package, methodological guidelines were developed to ensure that components were designed to be recyclable from the very beginning. The designers focused on material reduction, functional integration, and “design for disassembly”—that is, ensuring that components can be separated and recycled as easily as possible at the end of the vehicle’s life.The demonstrators developed in the project demonstrate how material can be saved through clever geometry and component consolidation. For example, the developers designed a novel door panel that serves as a structural support for the interior handle and armrest—while simultaneously providing maximum occupant protection through high energy absorption in the event of a crash. A bucket seat concept and a wood-cork cockpit also demonstrate how the targeted use of alternative materials can be successfully implemented in the early design phase.

Digital Tools: The Data Foundation for Early Decision-Making

The biggest hurdle for designers when using recycled materials is often the variability in material properties, which are required for precise FEM calculations and simulations. To integrate sustainable materials more reliably into the CAD and PLM landscape, a new digital data and information platform was developed as part of the Digitalization work package. This platform consolidates material properties, test results, and sustainability criteria, making them comparable. For the design engineer, this means they can make decisions about new materials—such as regarding recycled content, mechanical service limits, or component quality—early on and based on a robust data foundation.

Designing with Recycled Materials: Plastics and Metals

The project team validated that the new design tools work in practice by testing them on specific assemblies:

Structure & Crash Safety (Metals): For key vehicle materials such as steel and aluminum, engineers tested new component designs aimed at reducing material usage. Using safety-critical body structures, they demonstrated that optimized design and higher recycled content can reduce the environmental footprint without compromising strict crash safety requirements.
Visible and functional parts (plastics): For large component assemblies such as instrument panel supports and taillights, CO_2e-reduced materials (pre- and post-consumer plastics) were compared to production parts in rigorous real-world tests.

The research findings now provide developers with reliable design guidelines that highlight where recycled materials can already be used without any problems and where (for example, in components related to optics and safety or those carrying electrical current) the technical limitations lie.

The Leap into the Series

The methodologies developed in the FSCM project are not limited to theory but are directly incorporated into series production. The new BMW iX3 50, for example, demonstrates that circular design is becoming a reality: approximately one-third of the vehicle is already made of recycled materials. For example, safety-critical cast aluminum components such as swivel bearings and wheel carriers contain 80 percent recycled material, while the cast aluminum wheels contain 70 percent.

The BMW Group demonstrates—among other things—that material innovations can successfully make the transition from research to mass production with its New Class models. For example, the new BMW iX3 50 consists of approximately one-third secondary materials.

As they move toward production readiness, the BMW iX5 Hydrogen prototypes are undergoing an extensive testing program. (Image:BMW)

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