BMW has announced that it will be investing nearly $900 million USD and adding 300 new jobs at its plant in South Carolina to support production of the upcoming BMW X4 at the Spartanburg facility. The announcement came during a ceremony to celebrate a major production milestone – 2,000,000 vehicles that have rolled off the assembly line since the company began U.S. production in 1994.

“I am delighted to announce today, over the next three years, we plan to invest nearly $900 Million U.S. dollars. With this investment, we will be able to produce 350,000 units here in the mid-term,” said Arndt. “This is one reaction to the rising global demand for our BMW X Models.”

As we already know that new BMW X4 will be a smaller version of the X6 and will be based on the same platform as the BMW X3.

Check out more news on the BMW X4.

BMW says that with the addition of 300 jobs this year, the plat will increase production to 300,000 units annually. By the end of the year, the plant will employ close to 7,500 workers.

Since 1994, the plant has undergone four major expansions and produced 6 different BMW models and their variants (318i, Z3, Z4, X5, X6, X3). Employment has grown from 500 in 1994 to more than 7,000 today.

- By: Omar Rana

We’ve previously heard reports that Audi has plans to offer a competitor to the BMW X6. Walter de’ Silva, design boss at Audi has now confirmed that Audi has officially signed off on plans for the X6 competitor but declined to say when the car will hit dealerships.

In an interview with Automotive News Europe, de’ Silva said that Audi may even do a challenger to the upcoming BMW X4, but nothing has been signed off as of yet. Sources say that BMW will start selling the X4 in 2014.

Known as the Q6, the BMW X6 competitor would fit between the Q7 and the Q5 in Audi’s lineup.

“We will definitely launch a sportier crossover in between the Q7 and Q5,” de’ Silva said.

Audi has goals to pass BMW as the top-selling luxury brand by 2015.

- By: Omar Rana

Source: Automotive News

Last we heard anything of the much-rumored BMW X4 – a baby X6 – it was said that the model had either been delayed or canceled altogether. The model had an original scheduled release for 2012, but insiders said that the X4 was delayed/scrapped over its design being to close to the X3.

Well, it seems like BMW designers have now worked out the kinks and the X4 is back in the plans. BMW CEO Norbert Reithofer has confirmed with German publication Auto Motor und Sport that the the X4 will be built.

Click here for more news on the BMW X4.

Power for the X4 will most likely come from the company’s new N20 2.0 liter 4-cylinder engine. The N55 300-hp may also be available. The BMW X4 is expected to hit dealerships sometime in 2014.

- By: Omar Rana

Source: Auto Motor und Sport

It seems that the rumor of a BMW X4 will remain as such, since new reports have been released that plans of an X4 have been temporarily canceled.

With an originally scheduled release for 2012, the x4 has been scrapped over its design. The most recent prototype was very similar to the BMW X3, especially on the interior. BMW has decided that they would go in a different direction.

BMW is now searching for an X4 that is more of a blend of the X3 and the X5. It should be a four-seater, smaller and with better handling. It should also have more of a sport styling to it. These elements together are what BMW is expecting to enable putting the X4 higher than the BMW X6 Sport Activity Coupe.

The X4 will still have most in common visually with the BMW X3, but the front and rear will be designed separately. With added definition to the wheelarches, and added visual interest with new lines on the vehicle, the SAC will keep in line with the rest of the BMW line.

While the platform may or may not change, what can be expected is a hybrid version, and several 4- and 6-cylinder options. All options are likely to only be available in all-wheel-drive.

- By: Alexandra Koken

Source: AutoCar

2011 BMW X3

During an event to celebrate the new 2011 BMW X3 and the opening of a new 1.2 million square feet BMW manufacturing facility in Spartanburg, South Carolina, BMW Group CEO Dr. Norbert Reithofer said that the plant’s expansion completes the company’s $1 billion investment in the U.S. market between 2008 and 2010.

“The U.S. will remain the world”s largest premium market for the foreseeable future and we intend to participate in the expected growth with the expansion of our activities here,” said Reithofer.  ”Our investments, the creation of new jobs and our active involvement in local communities are proof of our deep commitment to the U.S. and its people and we will continue on this path into the future.”

Click here for more news on the BMW X3.

Reithofer said that BMW wants to remain one of the best-selling European luxury brands in the U.S. market. The automaker sold 18,228 vehicles in Sept. 2010 with year-to-date sales came in at 157,465 – an increase of 9.2 percent.

A total investment of $750 million has prepared the Spartanburg plant to produce new X3 SUV. The investment will increase production capacity at the plant by 50 percent from 160,000 units to 240,000 by 2011.

It was reported yesterday that BMW is close to green-lighting the X4 crossover for production, which could be produced at Spartanburg with the new increase in production capacity.

Click through for the press release.

2011 BMW X3:

Press Release:

BMW Group Commitment in America Continues

Growth of premium segment expected; Production confirmed to increase by 50% to 240,000 units; Company has invested US$ one billion between 2008 and 2010; New BMW X3 sets new U.S. benchmark for built-to-order manufacturing

Spartanburg, South Carolina. In a program to celebrate the opening of the new 1.2 million square feet BMW manufacturing facility in Spartanburg, South Carolina, BMW Group Chairman Dr.-Ing. Norbert Reithofer announced the plant expansion completes the company”s one billion US dollar investment in the U.S. market between 2008 and 2010.

According to Reithofer, the BMW brand wants to remain the best-selling European premium brand in the U.S.  In September 2010, the BMW brand in the U.S. reported sales of 18,228 vehicles (+21.1 percent) and a year-to-date sales volume of 157,464 vehicles, up 9.2 percent.

US$ 750 million of the total investment plan have been used to prepare Plant Spartanburg to produce the all-new BMW X3 and included construction of a new assembly hall for the BMW X3 and expansion of the Body and Paint Shops for higher production capacities.  As a result, Spartanburg”s production capacity is set to increase by 50% from 160,000 to 240,000 units by 2011.

Since the start-of-production at the Spartanburg plant in September 1994 more than 1.6 million BMW vehicles have been manufactured for customers around the world and total capital investment now amounts to US$ 4.6 billion.

To support the increased production, a total of 1,600 new jobs are being created with about 1,000 already hired and another 600 to be hired by the end of the year.  The total number of jobs at the plant will increase to 7,600 by the end of the year.

The balance of the US$ one billion investment was used to expand and modernize BMW Group”s U.S. headquarters campus in New Jersey and to build two new regional distribution centers in the Northeast and Midwest in 2008 and 2009.

Largest vehicle exporter from the U.S. to non-NAFTA markets

Since the inception of the plant in the early 1990s, BMW Group has played a leading role in helping establish America”s Southeast as a new center of the automotive industry in the U.S.  With the start of production of the new BMW X3 and the already established and successful manufacturing of the BMW X5 and X6, Plant Spartanburg has become the company”s new primary X-model competence center.  All three BMW models are manufactured exclusively at Spartanburg for North American and global customers.  More than 70 percent of Spartanburg”s production is exported to world markets making BMW the largest automotive exporter from the U.S. to non-NAFTA countries.

“The South Carolina economy is growing with the help of BMW”s U.S. operations,” said Senior U.S. Commerce Department Official Rick Wade. “The plant”s success in exporting supports President Obama”s National Export Initiative, which aims to double exports in the next five years in support of several million U.S. jobs.”

In designing Spartanburg as a world plant instead of a transplant, the BMW Group made a decision with long-lasting effects for the plant and on the American economy.  Beginning with production of the Z3 Roadster in 1995, Spartanburg has been a net exporter of vehicles.

New standards for customer orientation, production processes, logistics and clean production

The flexible assembly processes of the BMW X3 coupled with just-in-time parts management means that customers can have their X3 tailor-made to their own specifications.  Familiar to European customers, built-to-order is a relatively new concept for the U.S. market.  The assembly hall for the new X3 was designed for maximum production flexibility to accommodate individualized production in the shortest possible time.  In the U.S. that will mean customers can modify specifications of their new X3 and make changes to their order until six days before production of the particular vehicle begins.

The BMW Spartanburg plant was designed to be state-of-the-art in its environmental compatibility and the commitment to clean production has been furthered in the current expansion.  Advanced manufacturing processes have already reduced water consumption by about 30 percent and achieved a 12.5 percent decrease in waste sent to landfill in 2009 vs. 2008.

The introduction of the new Integrated Paint Process (IPP) alone has meant a significant improvement in both the environmental and productivity categories and has reduced the energy consumption of the paint shop by 30 percent, carbon emissions by 43 percent, and Volatile Organic Chemicals (VOCs) by seven percent.  At the same time, IPP has reduced the process time required for each vehicle resulting in a 40 percent productivity increase.

Local economy benefits from Plant Spartanburg

The opening of the BMW plant in Spartanburg in 1994 began a new era for the company, for the state of South Carolina and for the Southeast region.  The sixteen years of production that started on September 8, 1994 established BMW as the first European auto manufacturer to build and successfully operate an automotive plant in the U.S.  The plant itself has become an anchor in the region and a new pillar of the automotive industry in the U.S.

According to studies by the University of South Carolina, BMW has played a major role in the region”s economy and is directly and indirectly responsible for 23,000 jobs in South Carolina alone. This includes employment at the factory, among suppliers, and in the general economy.  All together, the jobs supported by BMW generate 1.2 billion US dollars in annual wages and salaries. “Based on a multiplier that every job at BMW results in more than three other supporting jobs, BMW”s announcement to create 1,600 jobs could mean over 5,000 additional jobs in South Carolina”, said Clemson University economist Bruce Yandle.  ”In total, the new hires are large enough to decrease the unemployment rate by one percentage point in Upstate South Carolina.”

- By: Zain Haq

BMW X6

It’s been a little more than a year that we’ve been hearing about a BMW X4, a baby version of the successful X6 ‘sports activity coupe.’ Latest reports suggest that BMW is set to green light the X4 and that design of the model is on its way to be finalized.

The BMW X4, which will debut sometime in 2014 if approved, will be based on the same chassis as the new 2011 X3, but will forgo utility in the name of styling. Much like the X6, the X4 will get a sloping roofline and a tighter cargo space.

Insiders who have seen design sketches of the model say that the X4 differs from the X3 in the same way that the X6 differs from the X5.

“The design is not finalized, but we know the direction and it will likely surprise,” a source told AutoWeek.

An M version of the X4 is also planned.

- By: Omar Rana

Source: AutoWeek

BMW X6

It’s been a while that we’ve been hearing about a BMW X4, a smaller X6, that could be in the works. However, many of you may wonder “why” since when BMW introduced the X6 many were quick to criticize the awkwardly shaped crossover.

It just so happens that BMW has sold 80,000 units of the X6 worldwide and if current sales trends keep up, BMW is on its way to sell more than 100,000 units by the end of the year. That has the higher-ups in BMW thinking if they can milk the market with smaller, more affordable version of the crossover.

According to AutoCar, BMW executives aren’t denying that an X4 is on the way and with the recently introduced 1-Series M Coupe, many can dream of a M version of the X4. A BMW manager told AutoCar that the 1-Series M Coupe’s 350-hp 3.0L twin-turbo 6-cylinder could be a big hit in the U.S., if nowhere else.

We’re liking the idea – how about you?

- By: Omar Rana

Source: AutoCar

Mercedes-Benz Shooting Break Concept

BMW has the X6, Acura has the ZDX, Lincoln has the MKT and Mercedes-Benz has the… well, they really don’t have a crossover.

As the BMW X6 gains popularity, many are wondering if Mercedes-Benz will have a competitor for their closest brand rival. Latest rumors suggest that Mercedes-Benz is coming up with a competitor to BMW’s upcoming X4 – a compact crossover that will resemble the X6.

Known as the GLC (or Geländecoupé), the model will be around 14 1/2 feet long and will come standard with two-wheel-drive and four-wheel-drive as an option.

No word on what the GLC will look like but it is speculated that the model will have a large front bumper, a sloping coupe-like roof line and large tires. If all this is to be believed, look out for the Mercedes-Benz GLC to hit markets in 2014.

- By: Omar Rana

Source: eMercedesBenz

BMW X6

It was reported last month that the BMW is considering a smaller version of the X6, known so far as the X4, due to the success it has had with the sales of the X6 crossover.

BMW said it has sold more than 80,000 units of the X6 since launch and it only makes sense to offer consumers a smaller, more affordable option.

New details say that the upcoming BMW X4 will be based on the next-generation X3, which is due to hit the markets in 2011. No word yet on whether BMW will do an ActiveHybrid version of the X4.

- By: Omar Rana

Source: Autotelegraaf

BMW X6

Whether or not you liked the X6, BMW says that sales of the car have had such a significant success that they are considering a smaller version of it – the X4. BMW said it has sold 80,000 units of the X6 since launch so it only makes sense to do a smaller, more affordable model.

A source told AutoCar that the company is considering a smaller car in the same mold as the X6, likely to take the X4 name. However, the model has yet to be given the green light by executives.

“We haven’t made any firm decision,” said a source, “however, the X6′s success shows there is a continued demand for sporty off-roaders.”

The BMW X4, if approved, will be built on the X3 platform.

- By: Kap Shah

Source: AutoCar

First there was the BMW X5; then followed the X3; then BMW tried to fit the X6 somewhere in the middle. After killing plans to do an X7, BMW last week showed the BMW Concept X1 which will hit the markets in 2010. But wait – there’s more.

Ever since CEO Norbert Reithofer became boss two years ago, BMW has been quick and decisive about new products rather than just focusing on its sedans and wagons. So what’s next for Bavarian Motor Works?

According to insiders BMW is working on an X4 – a baby X6 if you will. It’s still un-named but insiders say that the SAC, SAV, SUV or whatever you want to call it, will borrow styling from the X6. Sources say that it will be a tall five-door fastback with all-wheel-drive and rear-wheel-drive available. Makes sense since we just heard the X1 will be available with rear-wheel-drive as well.

The BMW X4 is expected to arrive as early as next year – as a concept.

Source: Automotive News (Subscription Required)