Despite difficulties in cutting costs, BMW announced on Thursday it will spend $270 million on expanding its U.S. operations. The luxury automaker’s New Jersey headquarters will get a $100 million expansion that will house a national Training Center, Eastern Sales Region and U.S. Engineering operations, employing a total of 1,000 people. The remaining $170 million will be spent on building two parts distribution centers.
“These investments show that we are convinced of the continued long-term growth of the U.S. market despite the difficult economic conditions currently,” said BMW ’s sales chief, Ian Robertson.
The new addition, called South Campus, will more than double the size of BMW’s current headquarters. By 2012, the German automaker will invest nearly $1 billion into its U.S. operations, with the Spartanburg, South Carolina-based plant receiving a $750 million expansion that will see its capacity increase by 50 percent, to 240,000. Once the revisions are completed, the plant will produce all three of the automaker’s SUVs: the X3, X5 and X6. The plant’s expansion is due to create 500 new jobs as well.
The recent slump of the U.S. dollar, especially compared to a strong euro, spurred automakers to build local factories, with VW also looking to build a plant Stateside — its first — in the near future.
