Quote - 'BMW’s 8 million square foot plant outside Spartanburg, South Carolina exported more than $10 billion in X3, X4, X5, X6 and X7 SUVs last year, exceeding every domestic US manufacturer. It exports around two thirds of its entire Spartanburg production, and its export value since the factory began is more than $100 billion.'

A factory location that benefits the US economy by $100 BILLION is a 'scam'?

Please explain to this poor iggerunt furriner.

Well call me an ignorant native but what the heck are you talking about? Is it just me but “quote” and then a statement. Quote from who? Context? Who said scam? Are you drinking? Are you asking us or telling us? This ain’t the kings English. Lol

Link Forbes


Southern Republicans Defend BMW Against White House “Scam” Claims


Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

South Carolina officials have leapt to the defense of German premium automaker BMW after White House claims that its South Carolina factory was a “scam" that was “bad” for the US economy”.

While White House trade advisor Peter Navarro went on CNBC to criticize BMW and other international automakers with North American operations, BMW fired back from its position as the leading exporter of cars from the US by value.

"This business model where BMW and Mercedes come into Spartanburg, South Carolina, and have us assemble German engines and Austrian transmissions — that doesn’t work for America,” Navarro claimed.

“It’s bad for our economics. It’s bad for our national security,” he said, claiming that all parts should be made in the US, rather than from international suppliers.

BMW’s 8 million square foot plant outside Spartanburg, South Carolina exported more than $10 billion in X3, X4, X5, X6 and X7 SUVs last year, exceeding every domestic US manufacturer. It exports around two thirds of its entire Spartanburg production, and its export value since the factory began is more than $100 billion.

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It also released a statement confirming it has invested $14.8 billion in the Spartanburg factory, where it employs 11,000 people to make 400,000 vehicles a year, since 1992.

Its major export markets include China, Germany, South Korea, the United Kingdom and Canada, BMW’s Board Member for Production Milan Nedeljkovic confirmed.

“Plant Spartanburg has been an important location in our production network for over 30 years and is now the largest BMW Group plant globally,” Nedeljkovic wrote.

“The strong export share of our plant underlines the importance of free trade for the USA. Not only does this benefit our plant, but also the strong supplier network in the region.”

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The BMW plant takes its engines from plants in England and Austria and its transmissions from ZF in Germany, but it also draws from 300 suppliers in the US, 60 of which are Tier 1 suppliers. It even opened a new press shop last year to make body panels in South Carolina, rather than shipping hoods, door panels and trunks from Germany.

BMW’s US production is mainly exported out of the Port of Charleston, South Carolina, but also from Brunswick, Georgia, Jacksonville or Everglades, Florida or Baltimore, Maryland, as well as by rail.

Even heavyweight South Carolina Republican Senator Lindsey Graham came to BMW’s defense, with a statement of support after Navarro’s attack last night.

“BMW has been in South Carolina for over 30 years and has proven to be one of the best corporate citizens in our state,” he said.

“Their presence is a major benefit to the South Carolina economy, and it is much appreciated.”

Both Spartanburg County and neighboring Greenville County voted overwhelmingly in favor of Donald Trump in the 2024 elections, with the sitting President carrying the state with a 17.9% margin over Democratic candidate Kamala Harris.

Greenville voted 63.8% in favor of Trump, while support was even higher in Spartanburg, where 66.2% voted in favor of Trump.

Spartanburg County had been decimated by the 1950s decline of the traditional textiles industry economy before BMW’s arrival, and it now also supports a huge range of supporting industries, like French tire-making giant Michelin.

Just how large a benefit BMW is to South Carolina’s economy can be measured by the quantity of public officials jumping to its defense alongside Graham, with OneSpartanburg Inc. and the Greenville Chamber of Commerce insisting BMW’s arrival sparked a resurgence in the South Carolina economy.

“BMW Group’s Plant Spartanburg drove Upstate South Carolina’s transformation from a declining textile economy to a thriving center of advanced manufacturing,” the two bodies said in a joint statement.

“Its 26.7-billion-dollar economic impact outperforms other major industries, multiplying across a vast network of in-state suppliers producing parts in Spartanburg, Greenville and beyond.

“BMW is responsible for Upstate South Carolina’s density of engineering, supply chain, and logistics jobs, and has contributed to drastic quality of life and infrastructure improvements across our region.”

The region now includes major presences from BMW, Michelin, Mercedes-Benz, Boeing, Volvo, Scout and defense supplier Oshkosh.

“To put it simply, BMW’s approach has worked for Upstate South Carolina for nearly four decades," they said.

"The people of our region, state and nation have prospered due to BMW’s investment, and in turn, those people have helped BMW build its most productive manufacturing facility in the world.”

Their thoughts were echoed by statements from the South Carolina Manufacturers Alliance President and CEO, Sara Hazzard, who took pains to point out the impact Navarro’s statements had on South Carolina families.

South Carolina Manufacturers Alliance President and CEO Sara Hazzard also had thoughts on Navarro’s comments.

“Thousands of families depend on the jobs generated by this billion-dollar industry, which has transformed our state in the eyes of the world for over half of a century,” Hazzard wrote.

“We are proud of our automotive manufacturers and suppliers who make everything from tires and transmission and powertrain components to seats, bearings, door panels, mirrors, exhaust systems and brake parts.

"The economic development momentum this generates makes us the envy of our neighbors and gives the business community and policymakers alike something to brag about.”

BMW is also expanding the plant, investing another $1.7 billion to evolve it to assemble electric cars and to make high-voltage EV batteries in neighboring Woodruff.

Ahhhh, a link. Ok. Now I am part of the conversation. Lol. Thank you for that.

I struggle to see it as a “scam” either. They certain not didn’t prove their case in that article. Of course, it also could just be a way to quietly encourage BMW to bring more production over here. This admin plays the negotiating game at a much different level than any prior ones.

BMW’s USA exports exceed and other US automaker’s exports by total value. Ford is the number 1 exporter by number of vehicles exceeding BMW by 50,000 to 65,000 vehicles for 2020 to 2023.

I don’t see how the BMW plant itself is a scam as it does the same thing Ford does in terms of importing engines, transmissions, various other parts, and assembling them here. One difference between the two companies is that 82% of Fords sold here are assembled here while less than 50% of BMWs sold here are assembled here.

Given three possible scenarios:

A) Keep doing what you’ve doing.

B) Stop importing anything and build absolutely everything in the US.

C) Pack your shit up and get out, if you’re not going to build it all here we don’t want you.

I’d say that option B might sound better (if not totally realistic) than option A, but option A sounds a lot better than option C.

Perhaps this is Mr. Navarro’s attempt at a little bit of “Art of The Troll” action to attempt to move BMW a little closer towards option B. I mean heck, if some domestic manufacturing is good, more is better, right?

quote:

Originally posted by pedropcola:
Well call me an ignorant native but what the heck are you talking about? Is it just me but “quote” and then a statement. Quote from who? Context? Who said scam? Are you drinking? Are you asking us or telling us? This ain’t the kings English. Lol

Apologies - this quote made the morning headlines here in UK on the BBC World News, with the governor of south Carolina expressing almost stunned disbelief in the comment.

I'm not usually in the habit of throwing stuff into the ring in this way, but it seemed to me to be such so utterly ludicrous that I assumed that it would be common knowledge on your side of the Atlantic.

BTW, I don't drink, so any delusion of mine is a product of my tired old brain, rather than anything alcoholically-induced.

The only scam there is that "hey look at us being green" pathetic excuse for a "Solar Farm" right next to the interstate.

$100 billion / 33 years (since 1992) = $3 billion/yr. The math doesn't seem all that unreasonable.
Further mathing: $3 billion (annual revenue) / 50000 cars produced = $60k/unit. Again, given they're BMW's, that doesn't seem out of line.

Is all those billions of dollars a net export? In other words, all those parts they import and use to assemble vehicles, how much does BMW value those at? Subtract that from the $10 Billion and let us know that number. Does the EU assign the same tariffs and taxes to BMW vehicles produced in the US as Fords produced in this country? Do the US assembled BMW vehicles have enough parts and “value added” labor to qualify as “American made” under our laws?

More than one way for something to be a scam.

quote:

Originally posted by Nuclear:
Is all those billions of dollars a net export? In other words, all those parts they import and use to assemble vehicles, how much does BMW value those at? Subtract that from the $10 Billion and let us know that number. Does the EU assign the same tariffs and taxes to BMW vehicles produced in the US as Fords produced in this country? Do the US assembled BMW vehicles have enough parts and “value added” labor to qualify as “American made” under our laws?

More than one way for something to be a scam.

Well, I've never been a BMW owner, apart from a few motor-cycles back when I was younger, but three of our Mercedes-Benz ML SUVs were built in the Alabama factory, so I've benefitted somewhat from this interesting arrangement. The next one we bought was built in Graz, Austria.

Maybe it is being picked on because they successfully sluffed off the attempt by the UAW to make them a union facility. Otherwise, I do not see why they are being singled out here.

I wouldn't call it a scam. They do employ a lot of people in the US and make some of the components here.

A better description would be to call it an overstatement of the impact. As others pointed out, many of the components are made elsewhere and installed in SC. That value needs to be subtracted from the quoted number from BMW.
The actual dollar percentage needs to known to determine how much this benefits the US and South Carolina but it's better than having them built in Mexico.

Umm, the article posted was dated 2022. A typo or is this old news from a “different” Whitehouse?

quote:

Originally posted by 911Boss:
Umm, the article posted was dated 2022. A typo or is this old news from a “different” Whitehouse?

The article includes a photo dated 2022. (Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)
The article itself is dated April 11, 2025. (Apr 11, 2025, 06:16am EDT)
In the link he posted it's shown correctly, in the text he posted it's not.

Peter Navarro works for Trump, not Biden.

quote:

Originally posted by 911Boss:
Umm, the article posted was dated 2022. A typo or is this old news from a “different” Whitehouse?

Odd, I'm seeing 4/11/2025 for a date on this...

I worked for Michelin in Alabama when they opened the Spartanburg BMW plant. At the time the largest major manufacturer in the Spartanburg area was a Michelin auto tire plant, so BMW started competing and pulling workers from the Michelin plant there. We dubbed it the "Big Michelin Walkout" (BMW)

It would be impossible to even build just the engines for one of those vehicles with only parts from the U.S.. Not all of the parts that go into the engine are even made in the U.S.

File this next to the memo about annexing Canada.

I liken it to the scandal / scam unveiling of luxury watch manufacturing. In retaliation to the tariffs, Chinese factories have been uncovering they're the ones actually manufacturing the high end designer bags and luxury Swiss watches. They ship basically completed parts that are simply final assembled in Switzerland so that it can have "Swiss made" on the dial. The final assembly while crucial, adds just a small amount of value and most of the value was done in China. The scandal is, high end luxury names like Hermes, Rolex, and such have given the impression their products are hand made in Italy or Switzerland, when, if fact, they do the most basic assembly like slapping on the label of for a watch, putting the movement in the case, installing the sapphire glass, and screwing down the backing.

Similarly, when they say the South Carolina plant exports $10 billion, that's the total value of the exported goods. Just to paint the extreme case, the value of the components imported in may be $9.5 billion and the final value added in the US is only $500 million. So, the plant is generating only $500 million for the US economy.

And, if the overseas plants from which the components are being made are also owned by BMW, there's more "Accounting Tricks" available to shift costs so as to minimize the final tax burden. Being that the plants are separate corporations owned by the same international corporation, the parent company can dictate the transfer price one plant can sell to the other. Thus, profits can be shifted to the lowest tax locality. Having worked in global corporations with different entities across the globe, I've come across this and it's "normal" or gaming the system depending on where you stand.

quote:

Originally posted by Rey HRH:

And, if the overseas plants from which the components are being made are also owned by BMW, there's more "Accounting Tricks" available to shift costs so as to minimize the final tax burden. Being that the plants are separate corporations owned by the same international corporation, the parent company can dictate the transfer price one plant can sell to the other. Thus, profits can be shifted to the lowest tax locality. Having worked in global corporations with different entities across the globe, I've come across this and it's "normal" or gaming the system depending on where you stand.

If you want to play the game.....you better understand the rules..

If I'm not mistaken, Spartanburg is where all of BMW's SUVs are assembled (except for maybe the M models) and are shipped around the world. I believe Mercedes operates the same way with their US plant.