The BMW Group is expanding capacity at its plant in Spartanburg, South Carolina, to meet strong global demand for its X models. Norbert Reithofer, chairman of BMW AG, said: “We will invest a total of $1 billion in our Spartanburg plant by 2016. This will increase annual production capacity by 50% — to 450,000 vehicles, from 300,000 currently.”

Mr Reithofer’s announcement coincided with the start of production of the BMW X4 and a further expansion of the X model family. “With the BMW X7, we are developing a larger X model, which we will produce at our US plant for our world markets –— once again underscoring our commitment to the USA.”

Emphasising the importance of the USA to BMW, board member (production) Harald Krüger said: “The BMW Group aims for a good balance of growth between all markets and continents. The Spartanburg plant is an important building block in our international network of 28 production and assembly facilities in 13 countries. The BMW plant in Spartanburg is the best example of our successful strategy of ‘production follows the market’.”

The plant’s expansion will increase the number of employees there by 800 (to 8,800), making Spartanburg the largest plant (in terms of production capacity) in BMW’s global
production network.