BMW announces expansion of its biggest factory

The Bavarian automaker plans to invest more into its biggest factory globally.

BMW has officially said that its manufacturing facility in Spartanburg, South Carolina, USA, has become the company’s largest plant in the world. The factory presently employees around 9,000 people, but BMW’s Chairman, Harald Kruger, said that their expansion plans aim to add an additional 1,000 positions by 2021.

Presently, the plant manufactures the ‘X’ line-up of SUVs – X3, X4, X5 and X6. BMW’s upcoming flagship SUV, the X7, will also be manufactured here. Earlier, the Bavarian company had already announced an investment of US $1 billion to prepare for upcoming X7’s production.

More than 70 per cent of the Spartanburg plant’s output is exported to over 140 countries. In 2016, the plant had manufactured around 411,000 vehicles. The aforementioned expansion of the plant will see an additional US $600 million being invested in the facility beginning 2018.

Commenting on the same, Kruger said, “Free trade has made this success story in the US possible. I firmly believe in free trade and open markets. It is essential for global businesses and economies around the world to flourish. We will keep investing in our people and in our business in the US. Therefore, I remain confident that our footprint and commitment will continue to grow not only in the great state of South Carolina, but also in the United States in the years to come.”

This news comes just months after the US president, Donald Trump, bashed German automotive manufacturers as part of a complaint about Germany’s trade surplus with the US. "You can build cars in the United States, but for every car that comes to the USA, you will pay a 35 per cent tax,” Trump had said to a US daily newspaper.

Krueger has denied that this new investment is being done to pacify the US president.