BMW Manufacturing Co. announced today that the export value of its passenger vehicles through the Port of Charleston in 2015 totaled $9.8 billion, confirming the company’s South Carolina facility as the leading U.S. automotive exporter by value.
According to data from the U.S. Department of Commerce, this is a 7.8% increase over BMW’s 2014 value.
In 2015, more than 280,000 vehicles were exported from its Spartanburg County, S.C. plant, over 70% of the plant’s total volume.
“Once again, BMW is proud to claim the top vehicle exporter spot,” said Manfred Erlacher, President and CEO of BMW Manufacturing, in a statement. “2015 was a great year for BMW in the United States… we had a record production year and a record sales year."
The South Carolina plant is also now the largest facility in BMW’s global production network.
BMW Manufacturing currently produces more than 1,400 vehicles each day and is the exclusive exporter of X-model vehicles (X3, X4, X5 and X6) to more than 140 global markets.
In 2015, the plant produced a record 400,904 vehicles and the $1 Billion expansion investment, announced in 2014, continues. In 2015, the BMW brand finished the year with record sales of 346,023 vehicles in the U.S. Nearly 30% of this amount represents a South Carolina X-Model.
