The two millionth Greer manufactured BMW shipped overseas was an X5. Ironically the 3 millionth BMW produced in Greer last year was also an X5. Both were gray and both were exported – last year to a customer in Sweden, and today shipped to a customer in Germany.
The gray X5 was driven aboard an auto carrier at the docks in downtown Charleston. About 70 percent of the BMWs manufactured in Greer are exported.
The vehicle will be sold in Germany and the owner will be given a picture to commemorate the event.
BMW also shipped its 3 millionth Greer produced vehicle, another gray X5, to an overseas customer, in Kristianstad, Sweden. That benchmark was also celebrated in March last year.
The Greer plant produces more than 400,000 vehicles annually. That has made BMW the nation’s largest vehicle exporter and the manufacturer. More BMWs are #GreerMade than any of the other German plants worldwide.
BMW Manufacturing is a partner with the Greater Greer Chamber of Commerce with its initiative – GreerMade – promoting goods produced in Greer.
A $1 billion expansion near completion will add the X7 to the models already produced here – X3, X4, X5 and X6.
The SPA built a $25 million inland port in Greer in 2013, mostly to facilitate moving more BMWs by rail for export. About 800 BMWs are transported daily by rail to the coast.
BMW also built a $13.4 million, 414,534-square foot warehouse adjacent to the inland port to prepare the vehicle kits, up to three to a rail container, for shipment overseas. The Greenville-Spartanburg Airport District to CenterPoint, the SPA inland port’s developer and construction manager leases the warehouse.