Glossary
Plant Code
Position 11 of a VIN. A single character identifying which factory built the car.
Standard: Manufacturer-defined; not ISO
Definition
The plant code is a single character at position 11 of a VIN. Each manufacturer maintains its own internal mapping of plant codes to physical factories. A BMW with 'P' at position 11 is a Munich-built car; a BMW with 'L' is from Dingolfing; a BMW with 'V' was assembled in Spartanburg, South Carolina. Plant codes are not published centrally and are not part of ISO 3779 — they are reverse-engineered from manufacturer service literature and registry data. For some makers (especially niche European ones), only a handful of plant codes are documented and the rest remain unresolved. The plant code, combined with the model year, also helps narrow down build date when the registry record is missing.
Why it matters when buying a used car
Plant codes matter for two things: import duty (a German-badged car built in South Africa is taxed differently in some EU states) and recall scope — recalls are sometimes limited to vehicles from one plant during a specific date range.
Often confused with
VIN
A VIN is the 17-character serial number that uniquely identifies a road vehicle worldwide, standardised by ISO 3779.
VIS
The last eight characters of a VIN. The VIS records model year, plant of assembly, and a per-vehicle serial number.
WMI
The first three characters of a VIN. The WMI identifies the manufacturer, the country of assembly, and (for high-volume makers) the vehicle category.