BMW Photo
Manfred Erlacher has been named president of BMW Manufacturing Co. in Greer. Erlacher, a 29-year BMW associate, succeeds Josef Kerscher who has returned to Germany to run the plant in Dingolfing.
“I feel very fortunate to have been selected to lead this plant. Spartanburg is a significant contributor to BMW’s global production network and I am excited about the opportunity to direct future growth and expansion in South Carolina’s automotive manufacturing industry,” said Erlacher.
Most recently, Erlacher led BMW’s plant in Leipzig, Germany through a major expansion in preparation to begin production of the BMW i3 and i8. An engineer by training, Erlacher has extensive experience in BMW production having led both Assembly and Body Shop operations at Plant Munich before becoming Managing Director of the plant.
The Greer plant is in the midst of a $900 million expansion to add a new model, 1.6 million square feet of production space to the plant and increase capacity to 350,000 vehicles annually by the end of 2014.
The facility, off Hwy. 101 in Greer, is the global producer of the BMW X3 and X5 Sports Activity Vehicles, X6 Sports Activity Coupe and, in 2014, the all-new BMW X4.
Worldwide sales for BMW Group set record monthly sales in October:
• BMW brand sales is up 5.4 percent, 140,057 vehicles (previous year, 132,826). Sales are up 7.3 percent January – October with 1,602,018 vs. previous year 1,493,154.
• X3 produced at the Greer plant increased 6.0 percent in October with 127,730 vehicles vs. 120,502 previous year.