Julie McCombs
The updated X3 (here) is being rolled out this month and the new X4 will join the family of X model vehicles produced at Greer’s BMW Manufacturing Co., in July.
Robert Reithofer, chairman of the board of BMW, gave an update on BMW AG during a conference call report today that included a positive first quarter report and forecast.
“Our BMW X range continues to be a huge success,” Reithofer said. “More than 3.3 million X vehicles sold since 1999 attest to the popularity of this model family. Today, more than one in four vehicles of the BMW brand is an X model.”
The X3, X4 and X5 are assembled in Greer, the lone manufacturing plant in the United States. “Plus with our BMW Concept X5 eDrive, we have shown how we will be able to increase the efficiency of our X range even further with a plug-in hybrid,” said Reithofer.
The Greer plant expansion will increase production capacity to 450,000 units annually by the end of 2016, 50 percent more than today. The billion dollars investment, 2014-2016, includes a completely new model, the X7.
BMW’s net profit rose 11 per cent in the first quarter with earnings rising to $2.03 billion. Reithofer said BMW “profited from increasingly friendly market conditions in the first quarter of 2014, particularly in Europe.”
Overall, revenues gained 3.9 percent with its sales volume up 25 percent in China, and 2.7 percent in the U.S. Reithofer said U.S. sales were impacted by an unusually cold and stormy winter.
“Our BMW brand exceeded for the first time in a first quarter the mark of 400,000 (487,000) cars delivered. 30 years ago, this was the sales figure for an entire year,” Reithofer said.
The company is expecting to top 2 million in unit sales this year, 400,000 more than in 2013.