The first three characters of a VIN are the World Manufacturer Identifier (WMI). WBA is assigned to BMW, built in Germany (Europe). Any VIN that starts with WBA decodes to BMW. The sample VINs below are checksum-valid and start with WBA.
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| WMI | WBA (VIN positions 1–3) |
| Manufacturer | BMW |
| Country of assembly | Germany |
| Region | Europe (from the first character, W) |
| Models seen here | 3 Series, 5 Series |
BMW test VINs · Decode a WBA VIN →
After the WBA WMI, positions 4–8 describe the model, body and engine; position 9 is the mod-11 check digit; position 10 is the model year; position 11 is the assembly plant; and positions 12–17 are the serial number. See the full 17-digit VIN format.
WBA is a BMW WMI. Every VIN beginning with WBA was built by BMW and decodes to that make.
The first character W places the manufacturer in Germany (Europe region) under the VIN standard.
No. They are synthetically generated but checksum-valid and use the real WBA WMI, so a decoder returns BMW. No real vehicle's VIN is used.