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Originally Posted by MoeMuc
Well actually I think that BMW has a really wide production network:
4 plants Germany
USA
México
Brazil
South Africa
UK Oxford + Goodwood
China (2 plants)
Partner plants:
Austria @ Magna
Netherlands @Nedcar
Russia
India
Thailand
Egypt
...
And some more engine production plants.
By the way: with more than 700 000 units, China produces the most BMW's.
But you are right in one point, this doesn't prove much as spartanburg only produces SUV's, and that segment ist still rock solid. I think the years 2022 and 2023 will show us how healthy BMW is.
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VW - As of 2019, it has 136 production plants, and employs around 670,000 people around the world
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They have no interest in building vehicles in the U.S. and shipping them to China or Russia. They look at the BMW "accomplishment" and laugh. The goal of producing vehicles in a high labor cost facility and shipping them to the other side of the world to compete with others building them in the region at a low labor cost facility isn't something anyone strives for, they deal with it.
I think they are also paying a duty on every vehicle coming in from the U.S. to China. I think BMW opened a plant in Mexico a year or two ago, likely be more competitive out of this plant as labor is lower and I don't think they have the same level of duty going to China.
With their Thailand facility, I work at a plant near Bangkok and their plant (spend about 40% of my time in normal times) where we build heavy equipment that stays in the region. Our average hourly labor rate at this plant is a little over $2 an hour and we can't compete in China (labor, material, overhead and Chinese government support of their businesses). We have no goals of shipping finished products from the U.S. to China. BMW will either find another place to build this vehicle or it will eventually won't be sold there.