BMW will invest $1 billion in its plant in South Carolina to build two of its new X-series vehicles at the facility, reports The Detroit News.
The automaker will create another line at the plant, producing the X7, a larger SUV with three rows of seats similar to a Cadillac Escalade. Also, the company will make the X4, a sportier version of the X3 coupe and plans to build a plug-in hybrid version of its smaller X5 SUV, the newspaper said.
The $1 billion will be spent through 2016 at the plant in Greer, just down Interstate 85 from Spartanburg. According to the automaker, it will hire 800 additional workers, bringing total employment at the plant to 8,800 people.
The Greer plant will make 450,000 vehicles a year by 2016, becoming the largest of the company’s 28 plants around the world. Almost 300,000 BMWs were made in South Carolina last year, and more than 2.6 million vehicles have rolled off the plant’s assembly lines in the past two decades.
Source: The Detroit News
