BMW Chair says new model built in USA revealed later this year
Expected to be X7-based X8 sporty crossover
BMW is bringing a new model to market for North America later this year. It will be an addition to the lineup, not a replacement, and it will be built at the company’s facility in South Carolina, says a new report.
BMW Chair Oliver Zipse told CNBC about the news late last week. “At the end of the year, we will make an announcement to build another high-end car from this manufacturing site,” Zipse told CNBC. “It is not a successor model, it’s a brand-new model, high-end for the American market but also for the world market.”
The model is expected to be a new large crossover based on the BMW X7. It may be a crossover-coupe style like the BMW X4 and X6, or may just add some more sporting style to the large crossover with two rows in place of three. The Spartanburg plant is currently home to the BMW X3, X4, X5, X6, and X7, along with the M versions of those models. BMW exports around 70 percent of the vehicles it builds there.
Zipse also talked about the company’s plans for electrification, saying he supported the Biden administration goal to have half the industry electric by 2030, but that he didn’t think current infrastructure would allow the number to be met.
“With today’s infrastructure, we will not get there, but of course we have 10 years time to build up together an infrastructure for charging needs, and so on,” he said. “And I think with the infrastructure goals which the Biden administration set, I think there’s a good opportunity to at least come very close to that market.”
