BMW Brings New North American Plant To Mexico

Cameron Aubernon
by Cameron Aubernon

It’s official: BMW’s second North American assembly plant will be built in Mexico, with production to begin in 2019.

Autoblog reports the $1 billion USD plant will be located near San Luis Potosí, and will employ around 1,500 to produce up to 150,000 units per year, the majority of which will likely take auto trains north to the United States as noted by BMW Group board member Harald Krueger:

This decision underscores our commitment to the NAFTA region. We have been building BMW cars at our US plant in Spartanburg for the past 20 years. With a planned annual capacity of 150,000 units for the new plant in Mexico, the BMW Group will be even better positioned to take advantage of the growth potential in the entire region. The Americas are among the most important growth markets for the BMW Group. We are continuing our strategy of “production follows the market.”

As for what will be built, BMW remains silent on the subject. Early speculation points to 3 and 1 series production, as well as MINIs.

Cameron Aubernon
Cameron Aubernon

Seattle-based writer, blogger, and photographer for many a publication. Born in Louisville. Raised in Kansas. Where I lay my head is home.

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  • El scotto El scotto on Jul 04, 2014

    Oh, so the the "Ultimate I'm Trying to Impress Others in the Company Parking Lot and No, I'm Not Really A Great Big D-bag Ultimate Sitting in Traffic Commuter Driving Machine" will now be built in Mexico? Pfft.

  • Kyree Kyree on Jul 04, 2014

    As far as quality goes, it seems like a lot of the factory-installation failures we hear come from stateside manufacturers, like GM releasing a batch of Sonics that were missing some brake pads and Encores with improperly-installed steering wheels. Other than that, flaws in today's vehicles seem to come more from the engineering phase and not from how they're put together. If the Mexican plant is anything to worry about, it's only because it'll be *brand* new and there will be some fine-tuning to do. It won't be because Mexico can't replicate the same quality (or lack thereof) as the Bimmers assembled in Germany or anywhere else. And as far as the authenticity goes of a BMW assembled in Mexico for the U.S. market, I'm beyond caring. Most luxury cars are simply the "idea" of exclusive luxury anyway; you can do just as well with a cheaper, non-luxury-badged car a lot of the time (that doesn't make me want a BMW any less, but still...) Unless it's a Rolls-Royce or a Ferrari, I really don't care where it's assembled.

  • Mikey Mikey on Jul 04, 2014

    Agreed. I've said this many times. The worker on the line, has very little impact into over all build quality. Perceived or otherwise.

  • VW4motion VW4motion on Jul 05, 2014

    BMW = Bavarian Mexico Works BMW owner's will look like even bigger tools after everyone knows the birth place of there new Mexican crap wagons.

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