BMW Announces $900 Million Investment At Greer Plant

BMW announced Thursday it would invest nearly $900 million and add 300 new jobs in 2012 at the company's Spartanburg manufacturing plant.

The announcement came the same day the Greer plant celebrated a major milestone since beginning U.S. production in 1994 — the two millionth vehicle, a Vermillion Red Metallic X3 xDrive35i, rolled off the assembly line.

But the excitement didn't stop there.

BMW also revealed plans to begin production of the new BMW X4 at the Upstate plant, the latest in the company's X-model family.

"Two million vehicles have prepared our team well to meet the new opportunities that lie ahead for our plant," said Josef Kersher, president of BMW Manufacturing. "We look forward to a new model with great anticipation."

The $900 million investment, over the next three years, will ramp production capabilities to 350,000 vehicles, according to Frank-Peter Arndt, a BMW Group board member.

By the end of the year, the plant will employ roughly 7,500 people. In 2011, the plant produced 276,065 vehicles for more than 130 markets around the world, more vehicles than it ever had in its history.

"BMW has once again provided tremendous evidence that South Carolina is a blueprint for significant economic development success," said Gov. Nikki Haley. 

Since the original decision to build BMW’s only U.S. plant in South Carolina in 1992, today’s announcement brings BMW Group’s total investment in the state to nearly $6 billion and represents its largest, single investment to date in its South Carolina plant.

Secretary of Commerce Bobby Hitt said it was exciting for him at BMW for the announcement, as a retired BMW employee.

"I was here for the initial announcement 20 years ago," Hitt said. "I was one of the signatories for that car sitting over there (gesturing to the first vehicle that rolled off the line). It's an exciting time to see what has transformed on this site."

Hitt, who once served the company as spokesperson, said he had been there for each one of the expansions. He said he enjoyed coming back and seeing his friends who are still there.

"This is all about the men and women here at BMW who are doing a remarkable job and are doing such a remarkable job that BMW Munich keeps giving them more to do," Hitt said.

Hitt said when he was asked to join BMW, his wife asked if he was sure that was what he wanted to do. He recalled his response, "'Nothing will transform South Carolina more than BMW's decision to come here.'"

Hitt said BMW was a trailblazer, the company that showed a manufacturer could exist in South Carolina. He said it has set the pace for companies like Boeing, which located in Charleston, to come to the state and to find quality workers and produce a quality product.

"We are very good at building things," Hitt said. "We're building the finest most complex consumer product in the world and now we're building the most innovative and forward-looking aircraft in the world. That's not an accident, that's who we are and that says a lot about South Carolina and the people who live here."

It's a point Rep. Trey Gowdy, who serves the Fourth Congressional District, can't deny.

"We take great pride in Washington in telling our friends across the country that BMW's headquarters are in South Carolina and that the Upstate is their home."