Capacity will reach 350,000 annually by 2014 when the BMW X4 debuts.
BMW will invest nearly $900 million in its South Carolina plant during the next three years. The announcement was made during a ceremony to commemorate a major production milestone – 2,000,000 vehicles have rolled off the assembly line since the Bavarian company began U.S. production in 1994. The 2 millionth BMW was a Vermillion Red Metallic X3 xDrive35i driven by Terry Gardner, a 16-year BMW veteran.
With the addition of 300 new jobs this year, BMW will raise U.S. production capacity up to 300,000 units. By the end of the year, the plant will employ 7,500 people at its more than 4.0 million square foot facility. Frank-Peter Arndt, BMW Group Board Member responsible for Production said the X-model family will ultimately be extended with production of the new BMW X4 at the Spartanburg plant.
In 2011, the plant produced 276,065 vehicles for 130 global markets, a 73% increase versus 2010. Seventy percent of the vehicles produced (192,813) were exported making BMW the largest U.S. automotive exporter to the non-NAFTA countries. According to Arndt, throughout the world, more that 117,000 X3’s were sold in 2011 representing a 156% growth of this vehicle versus its predecessor.
Since 1994, the plant has undergone four major expansions and produced 6 different BMW models and their variants (318i, Z3, Z4, X5, X6, X3). Employment has grown from 500 in 1994 to more than 7,000 today.
The new expansion brings BMW Group’s total investment in the state to nearly $6 billion. dollars and represents its largest, single investment to date in its South Carolina plant.
About Ken Zino
Ken Zino, editor and publisher of AutoInformed, is a versatile auto industry participant with global experience spanning decades in print and broadcast journalism, as well as social media. He has automobile testing, marketing, public relations and communications experience. He is past president of The International Motor Press Assn, the Detroit Press Club, founding member and first President of the Automotive Press Assn. He is a member of APA, IMPA and the Midwest Automotive Press Assn.
He also brings an historical perspective while citing their contemporary relevance of the work of legendary auto writers such as Ken Purdy, Jim Dunne or Jerry Flint, or writers such as Red Smith, Mark Twain, Thomas Jefferson – all to bring perspective to a chaotic automotive universe.
Above all, decades after he first drove a car, Zino still revels in the sound of the exhaust as the throttle is blipped during a downshift and the driver’s rush that occurs when the entry, apex and exit points of a turn are smoothly and swiftly crossed. It’s the beginning of a perfect lap.
AutoInformed has an editorial philosophy that loves transportation machines of all kinds while promoting critical thinking about the future use of cars and trucks.
Zino builds AutoInformed from his background in automotive journalism starting at Hearst Publishing in New York City on Motor and MotorTech Magazines and car testing where he reviewed hundreds of vehicles in his decade-long stint as the Detroit Bureau Chief of Road & Track magazine. Zino has also worked in Europe, and Asia – now the largest automotive market in the world with China at its center.
