BMW simply hit a giant ol’ milestone down south. The decidedly German firm has produced its six millionth car within the U.S. because it opened its Greer, South Carolina manufacturing unit in 1994.
The historic, six millionth car is an aggressively inexperienced BMW X6 M, but it surely received’t be heading to a buyer. As a substitute, it’ll stay on the manufacturing unit and grow to be the most recent member of BMW’s historic assortment.
It’s solely been slightly bit over two years because the plant, which has a capability of about 450,000 automobiles per 12 months and employs 11,000 individuals, produced its 5 millionth car. The explanation for this extraordinarily fast bounce of one other million automobiles produced? BMW says the second-half of 2020 was record-setting for them, and so was 2021 when the corporate processed 433,810 automobiles in South Carolina. That tempo, they are saying, continued into the primary half of 2022.
South Carolina can be the place my private 2007 BMW Z4 was constructed, so I’ve a deep love and admiration for individuals who work there, even when the automobile is a shitpile all these years later. I can’t actually blame the builders.
Within the 28 years it’s been open, BMW has invested almost $12 billion on the plant, and says it exports almost 60 % of the automobiles it builds there to 120 markets all over the world. That quantity really makes BMW the most important automotive explorer by worth in the US for eight consecutive years.
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Listed below are the milestone automobiles the X6 M joins:
- 1 millionth – February 28, 2006 – Z4 M Roadster
- 2 millionth – January 12, 2012 – BMW X3 xDrive35i
- 3 millionth – March 24, 2015 – BMW X5 M
- 4 millionth – September 8, 2017 – BMW X3 xDrive M40i
- 5 millionth – June 4, 2020 – BMW X5 M Competitors
- 6 millionth – September 2, 2022 – BMW X6 M
These numbers actually put in perspective how a lot BMW has elevated output at this plant. It took the corporate 12 years to supply a million automobiles, then solely 6 years to supply one other 1 million. After that it’s been between two and three years for each million automobiles. Fairly spectacular. Look out for a comply with up article in November of 2024 when Spartanburg produces its 7 millionth car.
BMW produces 5 “X” SUV fashions in South Carolina – and 4 “X” M automobiles as properly. The newest addition to the South Carolina portfolio is the newly launched BMW XM, which is about to enter manufacturing later this 12 months.