In addition to finished X5 vehicles, BMW’s Upstate plant will now be shipping the model parts and components to be assembled overseas.
Parts and components have been shipped out of a leased facility operated by Syncreon Automotive in Duncan since 2011. The export operations will be relocated to a 413,000 square-foot facility now under construction adjacent to the forthcoming inland port in Greer. The building is being developed by Centerpoint Properties.
In the Duncan facility, parts for the X3 were pulled together and packaged in sea containers that shipped to markets including Russia, Thailand, India, Indonesia, Malaysia and Egypt. The new operation with combined X5 and X3 imports will be about three times the size of the Duncan operation, which occupies 156,000 square feet.
“Our export program enables BMW to invest in new markets where we see potential for future growth,” said Josef Kerscher, president of BMW Manufacturing Co., in a release. “Since 2011, demand for the X3 from emerging markets has nearly doubled and we believe the X5 will follow this trend.”
The automobiles are assembled in other markets because of varying rules around imports and other issues.
Finished vehicles are exported to about 140 countries around the world. About 85 percent leave from the Charleston port, the rest from Savannah, Ga., and Jacksonville, Fla.
The X5 and X3 components will be shipped out in sea containers in which engines and transmissions have been imported. More than 9,000 such containers are expected to be reused in this manner next year.
Additional staffing will be managed by Syncreon, which could not be reached for comment by press time.
The announcement came just before another that showed a drop in sales of X model cars produced in at the Spartanburg plant.
The company reported last week that sales of BMW brand vehicles increased 45.7 percent in August for a total of 24,523, compared to 16,835 vehicles sold in August, 2012. Year-to-date, the BMW brand is up 14.8 percent on sales of 188,997 compared to 164,636 sold in the first eight months of 2012.
However, sales of the X3, X5 and X6 were down 24.1 percent, 30.5 percent and 20.2 percent, respectively, compared to the same time last year. A comparison of year-to-date numbers showed only slight declines of 5.5 percent for the X3, 3.0 percent for the X5 and 5.3 compared to 2012.
The company said the drop in sales was due to supply, not demand.
“The sales drop is entirely because of the model changeover to the new X5, which goes on sale in the U.S. at the end of October, and because of the ongoing expansion work at the plant,” said Kenn Sparks, spokesman for BMW North America. “It’s not that demand for the vehicles has slowed, far from it. It’s entirely because of availability.”
