BMW cars have been officially sold in the United States since 1956.[3]Max Hoffman was the exclusive importer from 1962 until 1975, when BMW of North America was established.[4][5]
In 2016, BMW was the twelfth highest selling brand in the United States.[6]
The BMW Spartanburg manufacturing plant inGreer, South Carolina, opened in 1994, had the highest production volume of the BMW plants worldwide,[7] with 396,117 units in 2025.[8] The models produced at the Spartanburg plant are theX3,X5,X6,X7, andXM SUV models.
In addition to the South Carolina manufacturing facility, BMW's North American companies include sales, marketing, design, and financial services operations in the United States, Mexico, Canada, and Latin America. The North American headquarters for its large financial services subsidiary is located inColumbus, Ohio and is responsible for the captive lending for BMW automotive, BMW Motorsport, andRolls-Royce cars, when buyers lease the vehicles or decide to finance directly with the company.[9]
TheBMW Manufacturing Co., LLC, also known asBMW Spartanburg, is theBMW Group's only assembly facility in the United States, and is located inGreer, South Carolina.[12] The plant is currently BMW's major global production site for the X3, X5, X6, X7, and XM crossover SUVs,[13] whose biggest market is the U.S., while other BMW models sold in the U.S. market are imported.
In 1992,BMW announced that it would build a 1,150-acre (470 ha) manufacturing facility inSpartanburg County,South Carolina, United States to strengthen its international production system. The plant opened in 1994.[8]
In 2010, BMW announced that it would spend $750 million to expand operations at the Greer plant. This expansion will allow production of 240,000 vehicles a year and will make the plant the largest car factory in the United States by number of employees.[14] BMW's largest single market is the United States, where 339 dealerships sold 346,023 cars in 2015.[15]
The two millionth vehicle built at BMWUSM rolled off the plant in January 2012., a vermilion redBMW X3 xDrive35i. The vehicle was retained on display at the Spartanburg Plant to commemorate the milestone.[16] The six millionth unit was produced in October 2022, a greenBMW X6 M.[17]
The plant is the largest BMW plant in the world in terms of vehicle production volume.[18] In 2025, the Spartanburg plant produced 396,117 cars, of which 225,000 units were exported at a value of $10.1 billion.[8]
In 2018, around 70% of production was exported to 125 markets. The biggest export market was China, accounting for one-third of all export.[19] That same year, BMW ceased exporting the X3 to China.[19]
There are several models which have been solely sold in the United States:
1971-1977BMW New Six Bavaria: This US-only model offered the more powerful engine in a car with fewer luxury features.[22][23]
2005-2016BMW M5 manual transmission options: The United States and Canada were the only markets where theE60 andF10 M5 was available with amanual transmission.[24][25]
SeveralBMW engines have not been officially sold in the United States, due to emissions regulations. These include:
M20: Early versions of the M20 engine, which usedJetronic fuel-injection, were not sold in the US.
M52: Due to high-sulfur fuel in the US at the time, most M52 engines sold in the US used an iron block, instead of the aluminium block used in other markets.[26]
N53: Due to high-sulfur fuel, the US was one of several countries where the N53 was not sold. Instead, itsN52 predecessor remained in use in these countries.[27][28]
S50/S52: For theE36 M3, the United States used different engines to the models used in most other markets. The S50B30US and S52 engines used in the US are less powerful than the equivalent Euro-specification S50 engines.[29][30]
^Greg Thompson (30 September 2016)."BMW and Spartanburg: A port far from any storms". Automotive Logistics.Archived from the original on 7 April 2017. Retrieved6 April 2017.That Charleston facility now sees approximately 5,000 finished vehicles per week arriving via Norfolk Southern along a rail line that starts at the end of the BMW assembly line and testing center in Greer. Of the 285,000 finished vehicles exported by the OEM from the plant during 2015, Charleston port was the point of departure for some 250,000 units.
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