BMW to push on with Mexico plant despite Trump tariff threat
BMW aims to begin annual production of up to 150,000 units of the next-generation 3-series sedan in San Luis Potosi, central Mexico, starting in 2019. When making the decision to produce its best-selling model in Mexico, the automaker said that production should follow the market. As a result, the carmaker's South African plant will cease exporting the 3 series to the U.S. in 2019 and start building the X3 crossover instead.
"Simply put, we are installing 3-series capacity in a new plant to supply global markets. We will decide where those cars go depending on the international framework conditions applicable nearer start of production in 2019," Ian Robertson, BMW brand's board member for sales, told Automotive News Europe.
Robertson's comments were made in Detroit last Tuesday, roughly a week prior to comments published in Germany's Bild newspaper on Monday suggesting Trump was threatening to impose a tariff on Mexican-built cars.
Trump has developed a reputation for singling out companies for business practices he dislikes. One frequent target has been Ford Motor Co., which earlier this month to shelved plans to build a new $1.6 billion facility in Mexico for the Focus and invest some of that money in the U.S. to create jobs there instead.
In the case of BMW, however, Bild posed a question to Trump specifically in regards to BMW's plans for the factory in San Luis Potosi, to which the president-elect responded: "I would say to BMW, if they built a factory in Mexico and want to sell cars in the U.S. without paying a 35 percent tax, then they can forget it (…) What I am saying is that they should build their factory in the U.S." Autonews