BMW to rev up production at South Carolina factory, North America CEO says
European auto manufacturers are following President Donald Trump’s push for car makers to build their vehicles in the U.S.
BMW North America CEO Bernhard Kuhnt told FOX Business’ Hillary Vaughn that the German luxury automaker is planning to ramp up its investment and build more vehicles in the U.S.
"We invested $8.1B in Spartanburg in South Carolina. We're about to invest more. It's our biggest plan globally,” Kuhnt said Wednesday during an interview from the 2017 Los Angeles Auto Show.
Kuhnt said he thinks the U.S. economy under President Trump is going on the right direction, and he feels positive about his policies.
The automaker spent roughly $1 billion to expand manufacturing capacity at the Spartanburg factory, and in June 2017, announced plans to invest an additional $600 million to support the production of its BMW X sport-utility vehicles.
BMW exports about 70% of the vehicles it makes in Spartanburg, the company says.
“We are very well established in this country. As a matter of fact, we are able to take the value of the cars, we are the company with the highest value of export from this country,” he said.
The South Carolina facility is now home to the largest BMW factory in the world, employing more than 9,000 people and building 411,000 vehicles in 2016, according to BMW.