# BMW is Considering Building the 3 Series and 5 Series in the USA



## Hu99 (Aug 29, 2010)

S93D said:


> As far as I know, BMW cars are made in the following countries:
> 
> Germany (former DDR/East Germany)
> Germany (former West Germany)
> ...


I'd much rather know my BMW came from Leipzig (East Germany) than anywhere in he USA. As for Thailand, they're not known for building cars but more famous for underaged whores, which I'm not interested in. The Rossland, South Africa plant is generally accepted to be the one with the best record of quality.


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## Elias (Jun 26, 2005)

It makes perfect business sense to make the 3 and five series in the USA, it would save BMW lots of money. My beef is BMW isn't going to lower their price's once they switch over to the US plants so the winners are BMW and those who don't like waiting 3 months for their special ordered vehicle.


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## shipkiller (Nov 24, 2007)

Elias said:


> It makes perfect business sense to make the 3 and five series in the USA, it would save BMW lots of money. My beef is BMW isn't going to lower their price's once they switch over to the US plants so the winners are BMW and those who don't like waiting 3 months for their special ordered vehicle.


It is naive to think that BMW will lower the prices on the cars. While it would be good for them to lower prices, the delta amount of cars that they MIGHT sell due to the difference in price would not override the amount of profit they will make selling cars with a higher profit margin....


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## AzNMpower32 (Oct 23, 2005)

Elias said:


> It makes perfect business sense to make the 3 and five series in the USA, it would save BMW lots of money. My beef is BMW isn't going to lower their price's once they switch over to the US plants so the winners are BMW and those who don't like waiting 3 months for their special ordered vehicle.


Now you know how the Germans feel about the X3 and X5. ***8364;52k for a X3 xDrive35i and it still doesn't come with moonroof or iDrive or xenons.


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## RBinDC (Aug 8, 2010)

I toured both the BMW plant in Munich and the one in Spartenberg SC. I didn't see much difference between them. What I found interesting was how little BMW pays its employees at the Spartenberg plant. I know it is located in the South where the cost of living is low but still, the wage rates border on slave labor (another Southern tradition). 

Full time employees (referred to as "Associates") earn an average of about $28 per hour, while contract employees only earn about $15 per hour. About 20 percent of the work force are contract employees hoping to be upgraded to Associate status when someone leaves. The turnover is really low so I guess the workers are happy with this arrangement. 

I cannot imagine BMW getting away that cheap with their German workers. I can understand why they would consider building more cars in the USA.


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## RBinDC (Aug 8, 2010)

AzNMpower32 said:


> Now you know how the Germans feel about the X3 and X5. €52k for a X3 xDrive35i and it still doesn't come with moonroof or iDrive or xenons.


the winners are also the US workers who are currently unemployed. There is also the "multiplier effect," whereby every job added at a BMW plant creates an addition 2 or 3 jobs in the service industries near the plant.


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## Patrick (Dec 23, 2001)

Hu99 said:


> I'd much rather know my BMW came from Leipzig (East Germany) than anywhere in he USA. As for *Thailand, they're not known for building cars but more famous for underaged whores*, which I'm not interested in. The Rossland, South Africa plant is generally accepted to be the one with the best record of quality.


You really don't have a clue. :tsk:


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## RBinDC (Aug 8, 2010)

Hu99 said:


> I'd much rather know my BMW came from Leipzig (East Germany) than anywhere in he USA. As for Thailand, they're not known for building cars but more famous for underaged whores, which I'm not interested in. The Rossland, South Africa plant is generally accepted to be the one with the best record of quality.


What do you have against youth?


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## Hu99 (Aug 29, 2010)

Patrick said:


> You really don't have a clue. :tsk:


No, not really. I do try though.


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## S93D (Apr 24, 2008)

Toyota's Thai made Camrys are supposed to be well made.

The problem with East German BMW is just my opinion. I've met some East Germans who grew up as Communists and they flat out don't care about others. Workmanship in their line of work (not cars) is terrible and they just shrug their shoulders.

BMW doesn't make cars in Sweden and Swedes are different from Germans. However, I read that Volvo's plants have absentee rates as high as 20%. I can't imagine that Volvo workers all have brittle diabetes and asthma. Sounds like they are lazy. 2-4% absenteeism, I can see (that's one or two weeks a year).


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## sc_dan2002 (Dec 6, 2010)

*BMW plant in SC*

Most of my family lives in the Spartanburg SC area (though I do not at the moment).... I have spoken to multiple people that work at the BMW plant there.

The overall consensus that I have gathered from them... as they all speak in the same matter about their jobs.... is as follows:

1) Everyone I have spoken to loves their jobs.

2) Even without unions (all but one individual that I spoke to rejected the idea of a union) .. pay is above what these individuals would be making in that area.

3) All spoke about the overall strict attitude of the supervisors... in both quality of workmanship and in employee attitude and work ethic.

If an employee is late to work twice within a period of time (at this point a disagreement arose between the 2 that I were talking to in a bar at the time... if I had known this I would have asked the folks I had spoken to previously about it)... One person said that the period of time was 6 months... the other said a year.... anyway... two unexcuses tardinesses to work... employee is fired.

Moral of the story is.... Judging by the those simple strict standards that are expected of workers at that plant... I have no doubt that the same attitude is held towards standards of workmanship. Quality of workmanship from that plant would have no effect upon my decision to purchase a BMW at all.

But I will say this....... if UAW gets into that plant... I will not purchase a BMW made there. Matter of fact... if UAW gets into that plant I will more than likely no purchase ANY BMW made after that point in time (due to the possibility that parts from a UAW unionized plant were put into the car I was thinking about purchasing).

UAW gets into BMW... guess I'll be brand shopping again.


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## HoustonScott (Sep 19, 2010)

I would never buy a BMW made in America. That's one of the reasons I buy BMW, it's made in Germany. I want my German car to made in Germany by Germans, to me its a major reason to buy a German car. I wouldn't buy a MB made here either. Sorry.

HS


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## Hu99 (Aug 29, 2010)

HoustonScott said:


> I would never buy a BMW made in America. That's one of the reasons I buy BMW, it's made in Germany. I want my German car to made in Germany by Germans, to me its a major reason to buy a German car. I wouldn't buy a MB made here either. Sorry.
> 
> HS


Don't be sorry, you're absolutely correct. What the hell do workers in Tuscaloosa, AL (Mercedes M-Class) know about precision engineering?


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## S93D (Apr 24, 2008)

A good car needs good design and good workmanship. Good intent from the assembly line is not enough if the design is poor. Sabotage can ruin a good design.

I think German design can be good but I don't think German workmanship is necessarily better.

Looking at past failures of things, less than robust design is often at fault, in my opinion. As far as housing, I've seen more things go wrong because of poor workmanship, like the way a door to a room was installed.


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## bmw325 (Dec 19, 2001)

NOt this again. It's very rare for a modern car to have issues related to final assmbly. IF there is an issue, its most likely going to be something silly and easy to correct like the wrong badge or paddle shifters on a car w/ a manual trans. Most of the problematic issues are due to design defects or problems with components (think HPFP for example). ANd its been shown time and time again that there's no correlation between the country where final assembly occurs and quality. THe only exception might be on very high end makes such as Rolls Royce and Ferrari where this is still skilled craftwork done by artisans who have apprenticed for many years..it would be hard to just put a RR factory in the US for example without investing lots of time. Its not like oompa loompas are hand-sewing your BMW leather seats or matching the wood grain on your burl walnut trim.

Its about good training, good engineering, and the process used. Honda and Toyota have been able to achieve very high quality w/ their US made cars. ANd, the accelerator pedal issues that plagued Toyota were due to faulty engineering and occurred in cars made in Japan as well. I also don't understand why people still think of German cars as higher quality or that German workers have a better work ethic--these seem like outdated stereotypes. The days of the built to last 50 yeears Mercedes-Benz are long gone (as are the days of wild UAW workers pruposely sabotaging cars). How often do German brands end up on the bottom of multiple reliability and durability surveys? Pretty often. That being said, I do think that German brands have a more solid "feel", and some more attention to design details. But that odesn't make them have less problems or last longer. Anyway, I hope BMW does make the 3 and 5 in the US so that I can get a custom made car in 2 weeks and get more Americans off the unemplyment line.


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## BeamersMan88 (Jan 18, 2011)

Yous guy un-American. That's not cool, USA BMW's means cheaper BMW's.


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## jatbeni (May 28, 2010)

All I care about is Euro Delivery... and with US manufacture, the question is - will there still be 3 and 5 series imports from Germany? 

As long as the U.S. is not the ONLY place that BMW manufactures the 3 and 5 - and I think that is not likely - it should be possible to order Euro Delivery. 

That being the case, I am all for U.S. manufacture. The plant in SC seemed first class... 


P.S. - AFAIK, BMW only assembles CKD kits in India to a very limited degree. There is no manufacturing in India.


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## Hu99 (Aug 29, 2010)

BeamersMan88 said:


> Yous guy un-American. That's not cool, USA BMW's means cheaper BMW's.


That's a very naive statement. Did the price of Toyotas or Hondas go down after they started assembly in the US and Canada?


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## mstrq (Jun 28, 2010)

BeamersMan88 said:


> Yous guy un-American. That's not cool, USA BMW's means cheaper BMW's.


X5 is built in America and it has class-leading price.


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## Squiddie (Dec 19, 2010)

chrisk03 said:


> Being a Honda/Acura guy most of my life, I guess it really never bothered me. Most of them are made in Ohio. However, nothing against SC, but if I'm going to buy an expensive German car, I'd kinda like it made in Germany. I would imagine though they will probably be making these 3/5 series cars for export. :dunno:


This.

I buy only guitars that are made in the US or Canada, with some old Japanese ones allowed. I buy my cars from Germany so it evens out.

I have seen people bash the US made models so far.


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