A future of stars and stripes for the offroads of BMW: given the progress of the euro-dollar exchange rate, management has decided to move the major part of the range’s manufacturing to Spartanburg, South Carolina. 750 million dollars has been dedicated to the facility from which 240,000 vehicles a year will be produced - a significant increase on the current 150,000. In addition 500 new employees will be hired.

In the course of the next five years then, the following developments will occur: the Z4 will return to Europe, and in its place the new generation BMW X3 from the Magna Steyr line of Graz will arrive. “Incorporating our know-how into SUV material will improve efficiency,” said Frank-Peter Arndt, member of BMW’s board of directors, in an interview with Automative News. “Increasing production in our most important market therefore represents a natural step,” he concluded. In the USA, the X3 and X5 sold 58,089 units in 2007 (an increase of over 8.9% on 2006).

Given the euro-dollar exchange, so unbalanced in favour of the former, many european manufacturers are taking more drastic measures, including BMW: realising overseas profits under this current pressure is not as easy as in the period of the weaker euro. And so also VW, after having closed down production of its last American facility in 1988, is about to return to the USA.

(1 votes | Average: 1 / 5)

0 comments