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At EuroCarBody 2026, BMW presented the body of the new X5. Its rear underbody is built around two aluminium die-cast rear side rails cast by Nemak, instead of a single one-piece Rear Gigacasting.
The X5 has to carry five different powertrains in one body. BMW solved this with four different rear-floor modules, while the two cast rails are the same across every version and form an H-shaped frame at the back of the underbody.
According to the conference talk as reported by Martin Lagler and by Die-Casting Weekly, BMW made this choice deliberately over a full Rear Gigacasting. The car also keeps the two front shock-tower castings carried over from the previous generation.
Source: Martin Lagler / LinkedIn
Nemak casts the rails, which it calls the X5 longitudinal member, at its new, highly automated plant in Georgia, USA, on a 6,100-ton die-casting machine. Nemak describes the part as an important milestone for its series production of large structural castings.
The rear rails are made on a Bühler Carat 610 cells with a two-cavity die, and that they save 11 kg. Because the parts are made at a supplier and shipped to BMW's Spartanburg plant, a full rear-floor casting would have brought extra logistics challenges, and BMW sees the two-rail concept as the best balance between integration, weight, manufacturing and logistics.
In July 2025, Nemak agreed to acquire the automotive business of GF Casting Solutions, the Swiss lightweight-casting specialist. Among its sites is a plant in Augusta, Georgia, which The Gigacasting Database lists with three Bühler cells of 6,220 tons making body structural parts for BMW.
BMW's own large-casting history runs through its Landshut light-metal foundry in Bavaria, where a 5,700-ton ItalPresseGauss machine for battery-tray parts was, when installed, the largest die-casting machine in Europe, and where ItalPresseGauss is set to deliver a new 5,200-ton machine, as announced in January 2026.
The same day at EuroCarBody, Audi showed the new Q7, whose body uses 12 high-pressure die castings, from small end plates to large underbody parts.
Machine counts for Nemak and BMW are in the Gigacasting Database.
Source: Nemak on LinkedIn — Oct 2026; Martin Lagler on LinkedIn — Oct 2026; 压铸周刊
