Auto Special: Art of inspired production at BMW's new Tiexi plant

Greeted in the spacious and stylish lobby by paintings, statues and installation works, visitors to BMW's Tiexi plant in Shenyang, Liaoning province might think they found a modern European museum by mistake.

Many of the works are from art students at the city's Luxun Academy of Fine Arts and the Akademie der Bildenden Kunste in Munich. They depict the relations between man, nature and industry from Eastern and Western perspectives, all parts of an effort to further inspire the workers to produce highly aesthetic BMW models.

But more compelling than the works in the lobby might be the conveyor belt overhead that silently transports car bodies from the paint shop to the assembly line.