BMW recently announced that it will invest nearly $900 million and add 300 new jobs at its South Carolina plant in 2012. The announcement was made during a ceremony to commemorate the company’s 2 millionth vehicle rolling off the assembly line at the Spartanburg plant since the company began U.S. production in 1994.
“With this investment, we will be able to produce 350,000 units here in the mid-term,” said Frank-Peter Arndt, BMW Group board member. “This is one reaction to the rising global demand for our BMW X Models."
Arndt also revealed the company's intention to expand its X-model family and that production of the new BMW X4 will occur at the Spartanburg plant, spurring the investment and job creation necessary to prepare the facility for the new model.
"Two million vehicles have prepared our team well to meet the new opportunities that lie ahead for our plant,” said Josef Kerscher, president of BMW Manufacturing. “We look forward to a new model with great anticipation."
With the addition of 300 new jobs, the plant will raise production capacities up to 300,000 units. By the end of the year, the plant will employ nearly 7,500 people at its more than 4-million-square-foot facility.
In 2011, the plant produced 276,065 vehicles for more than 130 markets around the world, representing a 73-percent increase over 2010. Seventy percent of the vehicles produced were exported, making BMW the largest automotive exporter to non-NAFTA countries.
Since 1994, the plant has undergone four major expansions and produced six different BMW models and their variants (318i, Z3, Z4, X5, X6 and X3). Employment has grown from 500 in 1994 to more than 7,000 today.
For more information, visit www.bmwusfactory.com.