The German BMW group once again led in 2020, for the seventh consecutive year, in automobile exports in the United States with 218,820 units worth more than $8.9 billion.
At the Spartanburg plant in South Carolina, BMW manufactured 361,365 vehicles last year, of which 218,820 were sold outside the borders of the United States, of which about 218,000 were assembled in the second half of the year due to the shutdown of activity caused by covid-19, the German automaker indicated in a statement.
About 13% of production was of the ‘plug-in’ hybrid variants of the two most popular vehicles at the US plant, the BMW X3 xDrive30e (23,000 units) and the X5 xDrive45e (24,000 units).
According to the BMW Group, this record production of electric models has been possible because, since 2015, the Spartanburg plant has been producing high-voltage batteries for this type of vehicle.
The top five countries to which this plant exported were China (23.3% of the total), Germany (12.9%), South Korea (7.8%), Canada (6%) and Russia (5.3%).
The main sea route is the Port of Charleston (190,000 vehicles were exported by this route in 2020), with the remainder exported through five other southeastern ports, while more than 12,000 vehicles left the United States by rail.
Spartanburg has been part of the BMW Group’s global production network since 1994, and currently produces around 1,500 vehicles per day, exporting more than two-thirds of its models to customers in 125 markets.
The product portfolio includes the five SUV models (the X3, X4, X5, X6 and X7), four Motorsport X models and two X plug-in hybrid models.
The annual production capacity annual production capacity of the plant, which employs more than 11,000 people, is up to 450,000 vehicles.
