BMW will expand U.S. plant to build new X4
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The latest expansion at Spartanburg is the fifth at the plant, bringing BMW's total investments in the factory to nearly $6 billion. |
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DETROIT -- BMW plans to invest nearly $900 million by 2014 in its U.S. plant in Spartanburg, South Carolina, to build a new model called the X4 and boost annual capacity to 350,000 vehicles in the mid-term.
"This is in response to rising global demand for our BMW X models and the expansion of the BMW X family to include the BMW X4," BMW production boss Frank-Peter Arndt said in a statement on Thursday.
The X4 would be the fifth model in the BMW brand's SUV range. Three of the automaker's four X models already are produced in Spartanburg, while the BMW X1, the smallest in the range, is built in Leipzig, Germany.
The X4 will fill the gap between the X3 and X6 models, CEO Norbert Reithofer was quoted as saying in German magazine Auto Motor und Sport last September.
The model is expected to launch in 2013. It will have the lower roofline and coupe styling of the larger X6.
BMW built 276,065 vehicles in Spartanburg last year, an increase of 73 percent over 2010. BMW said 70 percent of the vehicles made in Spartanburg are exported.
The latest expansion at Spartanburg is the fifth at the plant, bringing BMW's total investments in the factory to nearly $6 billion.
Increasing its capacity to 350,000 will mean the factory becomes one of BMW's biggest plants worldwide next to Dingolfing in Germany, where some 340,000 vehicles were manufactured in 2011.
BMW division topped Mercedes-Benz and Lexus in 2011 to become the top-selling U.S. luxury brand for the first time. The United States is BMW's largest global market with group sales, including Mini, up nearly 15 percent last year to 305,418 vehicles.
Reuters contributed to this story
