Julie McCombs
The $1 billion investment will mean 800 more jobs, 450,000 capacity a year by 2016 and production of the X4 begins for July exports. The X7 SAV is a high-end vehicle of the future. Left to right: Norbert Reithofer, chairman of the board for BMW Group, U.S. Secretary of Commerce, Penny Pritzker, South Carolina Governor, Nikki Haley, Nikki Haley, BMW Group Board member for Production, Harald Krüger, and President of BMW Manufacturing in Greer, Manfred Erlacher.
Julie McCombs
"We love Germany, but South Carolina is now the BMW capital of the world. And that is a title that we will hold proudly."
Governor Nikki Haley
Julie McCombs
Ron Anderson, also celebrating 20 years working at BMW, drove the new X4 into Friday's ceremony that introduced the vehicle for the first time in the U.S. It will introduced at the New York International Auto Show in April.
Julie McCombs
"20 Years Driving Performance" is the anniversary slogan introduced Friday.
BMW announced a $1 billion investment by 2016 to extend its X family with a new X7 at Greer’s BMW Manufacturing plant.
The expansion will create 800 new jobs increasing the workforce to about 8,800 on site and increase plant capacity up to 450,000 vehicles, said Norbert Reithofer, chairman of the board for BMW Group. BMW’s current capacity at its only North American plant is 300,000 vehicles with new capacity raising production 50 percent by the end of 2016.
The increase in production will mean in increase in container traffic at the $50 million Greer Inland Port. The increased production by 2016 is expected a 10,000 increase in containers moved at the port. BMW has a 413,000 square foot assembly warehouse, to prepare vehicles in kits for export, adjacent to the port.
It is the single largest expansion the Greer plant has announced, making it Friday to a huge turnout of upstate business and community leaders and as part of its 20th anniversary. The plant has expanded five times since production began in 1994.
This expansion means Greer will have the largest production capacity of any BMW plant in the company’s global production network,” said Norbert Reithofer, chairman of the board of management BMW Group. “This plant already exports, on average, 70 percent of its annual production (to 140 countries) with a 2013 value of more than $7.5 billion which, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce, makes BMW the largest U.S. vehicle exporter to non-NAFTA countries,”
The Greer plant has produced 2.6 million vehicles in the past two decades.
Reithofer was joined by U.S. Secretary of Commerce, Penny Pritzker, South Carolina Governor, Nikki Haley, BMW Group Board member for Production, Harald Krüger, and President of BMW Manufacturing in Greer, Manfred Erlacher.
The new X4 was also part of the monumental announcement. It will be available for delivery around the world from July on.
A plug-in hybrid version of the X5 will also be produced in Greer soon, BMW officials said Friday. The X5 is one of the top selling vehicles in BMW’s portfolio.
“In addition to the X3, X5, X6, and the new X4, we are today announcing another all new, larger X model to be manufactured exclusively at this plant for our world markets: the X7,” Reithofer said. “The X7 will be a totally new model and highly fuel efficient.”
"This comes from what the market demands. We knew we needed one over the X5. It’s not just the size. Everything on this will be premium quality. We thought a long time about it. This is all about bringing joy to our customers," Erlacher said.
A 675,000 square-foot body shop, the manufacturer’s third, and a new road entering the campus off of Brockman McClimon Road, space for a future “energy center” and a 371-space expansion of an existing employee lot is reportedly part of a site plan BMW filed with the Spartanburg County Planning and Development Department.
BMW has 28 production and assembly facilities in 13 countries.
In 2013, a total of 297,326 vehicles were manufactured in Greer, with 1,100 vehicles currently produced per working day. Total employment at the site reached 8,000 this month.
“Our US plant is the best example of our successful strategy of ‘production follows the market,’” said Kruger. “The state of South Carolina has supported us as a valuable and reliable partner throughout our 20-year involvement in the region – making the United States our second home.”
“We love Germany, but South Carolina is now the BMW capital of the world. And that is a title that we will hold proudly," Haley said.