BMW Was America’s Top Vehicle Exporter In 2021 For Eighth Consecutive Year

In 2021, BMW produced a total of 433,810 vehicles at its plant in Spartanburg, South Carolina. Of those, 257,876 were sold outside of America, making BMW the biggest automotive exporter of vehicles in America for the eighth year in a row.

Its 2021 performance means that BMW’s U.S. plant exported nearly 60 percent of all the vehicles it produced. That amounts to a value of more than $10.1 billion, according to the automaker.

“Claiming the top spot for U.S. automobile exports by value rounds out a very successful year for BMW Plant Spartanburg. I’m incredibly proud of our associates and the resilience they have shown the past year,” said Dr. Robert Engelhorn, president and CEO of BMW Manufacturing. “This achievement demonstrates BMW’s trusted partnership with this state and its continued commitment to the United States.”

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The plant builds the BMW X3, X3 M, X4, X4 M, X5, X5 M, X6, X6 M, and the X7. Those vehicles make their way to 120 different countries, mostly through the port of Charleston in South Carolina, although some make their way by rail to Canada.

The top five recipients of vehicles from the Spartanburg plant were China (24.1% of export volume), Germany (12.3%), South Korea (9.4%), Canada (5.6%), and Great Britain (5.4%) in 2021.

The plant is also an important one for the U.S. market, though. The 179,840 vehicles it produced for the domestic market made up more than 53 percent of BMW brand sales in the U.S. The top two sellers were the X3 and the X5.

“Plant Spartanburg contributes greatly to the success of the BMW Group,” said Milan Nedeljković, head of production for BMW. “They have world-class people who build world-class products. I congratulate our 11,000 associates for this achievement, and I thank our partners throughout South Carolina for their outstanding support.”

BMW opened its Spartanburg plant in 1992. It is currently operated by more than 11,000 employees and has a maximum capacity of up to 450,000 vehicles per year.