BMW Produces Its 200,000th X4 As It Prepares For The New One

Out with the old X4, in with the new.

That’s the order of the day at BMW’s assembly plant in Spartanburg, South Carolina, where the landmark 200,000th example of the first-generation X4 has rolled off the production line.

The xDrive20d model in Alpine White metallic is slated to be delivered to a customer in Asia. But there’s more to this example than its build slot.

This, you see, will also be one of the final examples of the first-generation X4 as the plant prepares to start producing the new one, just revealed (read all about it in detail here), in its place.

Bigger yet lighter and altogether more advanced than the existing model, the new X4 is slated for debut at the Geneva Motor Show next month. The first examples are set to begin rolling off the retooled assembly line next month, and reach US showrooms in the summer.

As successful as it has been for the Bavarian automaker, the X4 isn’t the only model produced at the Spartanburg facility. Billed as the “Home of the BMW X models,” the plant also handles assembly of the X3 with which the X4 shares its underpinnings, as well as the larger X5 and similarly sleek X6 models, and will soon become home to the flagship X7 as well.

BMW Manufacturing in Spartanburg doesn’t just build these models for local consumption, either: it exports them to markets around the world. Last year, the factory produced 272,346 vehicles – all BMW X models – for export, representing over 70 percent of its output.

With a combined value of some $8.76 billion, that makes BMW the largest exporter of automobiles, by volume, in the United States.