BMW in the United States

BMW 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 North American headquarters for BMW is located at 300 Chestnut Ridge Road, Woodcliff Lake, Bergen County, New Jersey.
As of 2019 the BMW Spartanburg manufacturing plant in Greer, South Carolina, had the highest production volume of the BMW plants worldwide, producing approximately 1,500 vehicles per day. The models produced at the Spartanburg plant are the X3, X4, X5, X6, X7, and XM 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. The North American headquarters for its large financial services subsidiary is located in Columbus, Ohio and is responsible for the captive lending for BMW automotive, BMW Motorsport, and Rolls-Royce cars, when buyers lease the vehicles or decide to finance directly with the company.
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The BMW Manufacturing Co., LLC, 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, X7, and XM crossover SUVs, whose biggest market is the U.S., while other BMW models sold in the U.S. market are imported.
In 1992, BMW announced that it would build a 1,150-acre (470 ha) 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 two millionth vehicle built at BMWUSM rolled off the plant in January 2012. It is a vermilion red metallic X3 xDrive35i with Oyster Nevada interior and an M Sport Package, was driven by BMW Associate Terry Gardner, a 16-year BMW veteran, with accompanying associates Renita Williams, Trang Pham and Olga Yurchenko. These associates represent teams from each of the plant's manufacturing technologies: Body, Paint and Assembly. The vehicle was retained on display at the Spartanburg Plant to commemorate the milestone.
The $2.2 billion plant, which employs 23,000 (BMW and contract), is part of the company's global five-plant production network.
In 2014, the automaker announced an additional $1 billion investment in the facility that will make Spartanburg, South Carolina, BMW's largest U.S. 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 (320 km) from the port of Charleston, handles many of the plant's needs for cargo and finished vehicles. In 2015, BMW Spartanburg sent 250,000 new cars by rail to the Charleston port. Some air freight is also used.
There are several models which have been solely sold in the United States:
Several BMW engines have not been officially sold in the United States, due to emissions regulations. These include: