BMW in the United States

History

BMW announced in 1992 that it would build a 1,150-acre (470 ha) manufacturing facility in Spartanburg County, South Carolina, United States to strengthen its international production system. The plant opened in 1994.^[5]

In 2010 BMW announced that it would spend $750 million to expand operations at the Greer plant. This expansion will allow production of 240,000 vehicles a year and will make the plant the largest car factory in the United States by number of employees.^[10] BMW's largest single market is the United States, where 339 dealerships sold 346,023 cars in 2015.^[11]

The $2.2 billion plant, which employs 23,000 (BMW and contract), is part of the company’s global five-plant production network.

The automaker announced in 2014 an additional $1 billion investment in the facility that will make Spartanburg, South Carolina BMW's largest US factory, with an annual capacity of 480,000 units^[12] when including the X7.^[13] There were 411,171 vehicles produced in 2016, of which 70% were exported to 140 countries.^[5] The plant is the largest BMW plant in the world in terms of vehicle production volume.^[14]

A nearby dry inland port, 200 miles from the port of Charleston, handles many of the plant's needs for cargo and finished vehicles. In 2015, 250,000 new cars were sent by rail from BMW Spartanburg to Charleston port.^[15] Some air freight is also used.^[16]

Current products

• X3 (third generation)^[17]
• X4
• X5^[18]
• X6
• X7

Previous products

• E36 3 Series (1994–1996; BMW Plant Spartanburg was not the sole producer of these 3 Series models)
  • 318i Sedan (1994–1995)
  • 318is Coupe (1994–1995)
  • 328i Sedan (1996)
• Z3 (1995–2002)
  • Roadster
  • M Roadster
  • Coupe
  • M Coupe
• Z4 (first generation 2003–2008; second-generation assembly was transferred to Regensburg, Germany in 2008)
  • Roadster
  • M Roadster
  • Coupe
  • M Coupe

Models offered

There are several models which have been solely sold in the United States, or models sold elsewhere which were not offered in the US. These include:

• E3 Bavaria: This US-only model offered the more powerful engine in a car with fewer luxury features.^[19][20]
• E60 M5: The United States and Canada were the only markets where the E60 M5 was available with a manual transmission.^[21][22]
• Station wagons: Many of BMW's station wagon ("Touring") models have not been available in the US.^[23]

Engines offered

Several BMW engines have not been officially sold in the United States, due to emissions regulations. These include:

• M20: Early versions of the M20 engine, which used Jetronic fuel-injection, were not sold in the US.
• M52: Due to high-sulfur fuel in the US at the time, most M52 engines sold in the US used an iron block, instead of the aluminium block used in other markets.^[24]
• N53: Due to high-sulfur fuel, the US was one of several countries where the N53 was not sold. Instead, its N52 predecessor remained in use in these countries.^[25][26]
• S50/S52: For the E36 M3, the United States models used different engines to the models used in most other markets. The S50B30US and S52 engines used in the US are less powerful than the equivalent Euro-specification S50 engines.^[27][28]