cars have been officially sold in the United States since 1956 and manufactured in the United States since 1994. The first BMW dealership in the United States opened in 1975. In 2016, BMW was the twelfth highest selling brand in the United States. The BMW manufacturing plant in Greer, South Carolina has the highest production volume of the BMW plants worldwide, currently producing approximately 1,500 vehicles per day. The models produced at the Spartanburg plant are the X3, X4, X5, X6 and X7 SUV models. In addition to the South Carolina manufacturing facility, BMW's North American companies include sales, marketing, design, and financial services operations in the United States, Mexico, Canada and Latin America.
Spartanburg manufacturing plant
The BMW Manufacturing Company, also known as BMW Spartanburg, is the BMW Group's only assembly facility in the United States, and is located in Greer, South Carolina. The plant is currently BMW's major global production site for the X3, X4, X5, X6, and X7 crossover SUVs, whose biggest market is the U.S., while other BMW models sold in the U.S. market are imported.
History
BMW announced in 1992 that it would build a manufacturing facility in Spartanburg County, South Carolina, United States to strengthen its international production system. The plant opened in 1994. In 2010 BMW announced that it would spend $750 million to expand operations at the Greer plant. This expansion will allow production of 240,000 vehicles a year and will make the plant the largest car factory in the United States by number of employees. BMW's largest single market is the United States, where 339 dealerships sold 346,023 cars in 2015. The $2.2 billion plant, which employs 23,000, is part of the company’s global five-plant production network. The automaker announced in 2014 an additional $1 billion investment in the facility that will make Spartanburg, South Carolina BMW's largest US factory, with an annual capacity of 480,000 units when including the X7. There were 411,171 vehicles produced in 2016, of which 70% were exported to 140 countries. The plant is the largest BMW plant in the world in terms of vehicle production volume. Another record was set in 2018, around 70% of production was exported to 125 markets. The biggest export market was China, accounting for one-third of all export. That same year, BMW ceased exporting the X3 to China. A nearby dry inland port, 200 miles from the port of Charleston, handles many of the plant's needs for cargo and finished vehicles. In 2015, 250,000 new cars were sent by rail from BMW Spartanburg to Charleston port. Some air freight is also used.
There are also several international models which were not sold in the United States:
2004-2011 BMW 1 Series hatchbacks: Due to the poor sales figures of its predecessor, the hatchback models of the first generation were also not sold in the US.
1987-present station wagons: Many of BMW's station wagon models have not been available in the US.
M20: Early versions of the M20 engine, which used Jetronic fuel-injection, were not sold in the US.
M52: Due to high-sulfur fuel in the US at the time, most M52 engines sold in the US used an iron block, instead of the aluminium block used in other markets.
N53: Due to high-sulfur fuel, the US was one of several countries where the N53 was not sold. Instead, its N52 predecessor remained in use in these countries.
S50/S52: For the E36 M3, the United States models used different engines to the models used in most other markets. The S50B30US and S52 engines used in the US are less powerful than the equivalent Euro-specification S50 engines.
"Bimmer" and "Beemer" nicknames
Some people in the United States prescribe that "beemer" should be used specifically for motorcycles and "bimmer" should be used for cars. Some of these people claim that "true aficionados" make this distinction and those who don't are "uninitiated." Usage in North American mainstream media also varies, for example The Globe and Mail of Canada prefers Bimmer and calls Beemer a "yuppie abomination", and the Tacoma News Tribune says that it is "auto snobs" who use the terms to distinguish between cars and motorcycles.
