BMW Spartanburg plant expansion complete

Worldwide X3 manufacturing to take place at past Top Plant winning facility

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BMW on Wednesday held a celebration in Spartanburg, SC to mark the completion of its second U.S. assembly plant, according to a report in goupstate.com, which covers the Spartanburg area.

The $750 million expansion will support the production of the next generation X3 Sports Activity Vehicle.

The Spartanburg expansion, announced in 2008, included the construction of a 1.2-million-square-foot assembly hall, a 300,000-square-foot addition to its paint shop and the creation of 1,600 new jobs.

The move was made to centralize BMW's expertise for its X models and eventually will increase the plant's output by 50% to 240,000 vehicles per year.

“If you see an X5, X6 or X3 anywhere in the world, you can be sure it is made right here in Spartanburg,” said Josef Kerscher, president of Spartanburg-based BMW Manufacturing Co. “This achievement is not only what we've done here. It's coming out of the worldwide production network.”

BMW officials who participated in the event touted the company's overall investment of $1 billion from 2008 to 2010 in the American luxury car market as its path to prosperity, at least for the foreseeable future.

In addition to the Spartanburg facility, the investment included an expansion of its North American operating headquarters in New Jersey and the construction of two new regional distribution centers in the Northeast and Midwest in 2008 and 2009, respectively.

BMW has said the investments were based on the global increase in demand for its vehicles, particularly the X vehicles and specifically in the U.S.