On Monday, March 10, 2008, BMW Manufacturing Co. officials made the biggest announcement in the plant's history: The investment of an additional $750 million in its Upstate South Carolina factory, the addition of 1.5 million square feet and the creation of 500 new jobs on site.

Taking the German automaker’s state investment to new heights of $4.2 billion, this announcement is the largest of its kind for the Spartanburg facility, making way for the manufacturing consolidation of all BMW X Series vehicles under one roof. Once completed, the plant will produce all X3 Sports Activity Vehicles (currently built in Austria), X5 Sports Activity Vehicles and the new X6 Sports Activity Coupe, the latest crossover in the X family.

The three-year expansion will not only include the building of a second assembly facility, but will also nearly double the size of the current Paint Shop, provide renovations for the Body Shop, and increase annual production capacity to 240,000 units by 2012.