The end of clicking through menus — dialogue takes over

The BMW Group announced the news in a press release dated 17 July 2026. The BMW plugin in ChatGPT combines the language capabilities of generative artificial intelligence with the automaker's official product database. In practice, this means that instead of browsing a catalog, you describe your needs in your own words — and the chatbot takes care of the rest.

The Munich-based automaker is responding to a fundamental shift in customer behavior. People are increasingly searching for information not through traditional search engines and websites, but by asking AI assistants directly. BMW wants to be there: as the first car manufacturer, it offers digital advice about its vehicles directly inside ChatGPT, not just on its own website.

How conversational configuration works

The foundation is natural dialogue. The user describes their requirements — for example, how much space they need, what ground clearance they prefer, the type of drivetrain, or what they will use the car for. Based on this, the plugin suggests suitable models and specific configurations. Input can be both text and voice, on a phone or desktop.

Recommendations can be freely adjusted and refined during the conversation. According to BMW, the following can be taken into account:

• operating costs of individual configurations,
• driving dynamics and all-wheel drive,
• color, model, and equipment features,
• side-by-side comparison of several assembled variants.

The finished specification can then be opened by the customer in the classic BMW Configurator, where they can proceed to a dealer inquiry. Another interesting feature is the connection to stock vehicles: ChatGPT can directly show cars with a similar specification that are available immediately. All recommendations are based on current data from the official configurator, and if you ask something outside this database, the chatbot can look up information on the internet.

Where to find the plugin — and early hiccups

According to BMW, access is simple: on chatgpt.com, just go to the "Plugins" menu and search for "BMW." It works the same way in the mobile app after logging in. The plugin is free — you only pay for any ChatGPT subscription you may have; configuring the car itself costs nothing.

The launch, however, wasn't entirely smooth. The American magazine Carscoops tried the new feature on the day of the announcement — and couldn't find the plugin in ChatGPT on either mobile or desktop. The editor received a message that no such add-on existed. The likely explanation is that BMW is rolling out the plugin gradually across markets, probably starting in Germany. The automaker hasn't yet officially specified in which countries the feature is available. However, the fact that BMW's Czech office also issued the press release suggests that deployment on the Czech market is anticipated.

Why it matters: chatbots are turning into a sales channel

BMW's move fits into a broader trend known as conversational shopping. Since autumn 2025, OpenAI has been systematically building ChatGPT into a platform where third-party applications operate — among the first partners were, for example, Booking.com, Expedia, and Zillow. Holiday planning, housing searches, and shopping are gradually migrating into the chat window. In the United States, services for selecting used cars such as Edmunds and CarMax already work through ChatGPT — but BMW is the first actual car manufacturer to bring its own configurator into the chatbot.

For car manufacturers, this is a strategic question. If customers start asking AI assistants about cars, brands need to ensure that the answers are based on their official and up-to-date data — not on guesses from a language model that could make up prices or equipment. A direct connection to the configurator database solves this problem elegantly: generative AI provides natural conversation, while the automaker provides the facts.

BMW, moreover, has been experimenting with artificial intelligence for a long time. In its vehicles, it offers a voice assistant built on large language models in collaboration with Amazon, and it also deploys AI tools in manufacturing. The configurator in ChatGPT, however, is the first case where AI directly enters the sales process for new cars.

What it means for Czech customers

ChatGPT communicates fluently in Czech, so the language barrier disappears — you'll be able to talk about equipping your new BMW in Czech. The key question remains the aforementioned availability of the plugin on the Czech market and whether it will work with the Czech price list. Local prices and the stock vehicle offer will be decisive for practical use.

In any case, the news hints at what buying expensive goods might look like in the era of AI assistants: instead of hours spent in configurators and catalogs, one continuous conversation in which you gradually refine what you actually want. The question remains how many people will entrust the purchase of a car — for most households the second largest investment after housing — to a chat window. But the first step in that direction has just been taken by a brand few would have expected.