BMW started up its Mexican plant last month
- The German automaker BMW started operating at its new Mexican plant in San Luis Potosi, in central Mexico, last month. This plant began manufacturing the recent 3 Series sedan for the entire North American market. It sold up to 150,000 units of this model in North America in 2007, but since then the 3 Series has suffered from the success of the SUVs, the success of the 5 Series sedan, the success of its main competitor the Mercedes C-Class and finally the separation of the coupés and convertibles now called 4 Series. However, BMW believes in the potential of this model in this region and has modelled its strategy on that of Mercedes, which decided in 2014 to produce the C-Class sedan sold in North America on site. Since then, the Mercedes C-Class has been produced in the United States at 60,000 / 70,000 units per year for local demand.
- BMW plans to produce 75,000 units per year of its 3 Series in its new San Luis Potosi plant. This will produce an equivalent Series 5 volume starting next year. The plant is calibrated to produce up to 175,000 units per year.
- BMW's strategy is part of a major redeployment of German automakers in North America. Audi, Mercedes and even Volkswagen have recently increased their industrial activity in this region in order to meet local demand directly without having to rely on exports from Europe. In addition to the Mercedes C-Class, the Audi Q5, Volkswagen Tiguan and now the BMW 3 Series are produced in North America.
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