The first car has rolled off the assembly line at BMW’s new South American plant in Araquari, Santa Catarina state, Brazil.
The automaker is spending more than EUR200m (US$253m) on the facility which will have an annual production capacity of more than 30,000 vehicles. The first car off the line was a BMW 328i ActiveFlex, built specifically for Brazil and able to run on either ethanol or petrol.
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The new plant will create around 1,300 new jobs; 500 new employees are already on board and further jobs will be created within the supplier network.
All construction is due to be completed by September 2015 with the addition of body and paint shops. The plant is scheduled to produce the Mini Countryman, BMW 1 series five-door, 3 series sedan, X1 and X3.
The new plant in Brazil gives BMW Group’s global production network 30 production and assembly sites in 14 countries on four continents.
Group production chief Harald Krüger said BMW aims to achieve balanced growth in all markets and on all continents. He said: “The new plant in Brazil will be an important element in our international production network and will make a significant contribution to the group’s profitable and globally balanced growth.
“Our strategic principle of ‘production follows the market’ has previously proven effective in countries such as the US and China and will also ensure our success in Brazil, an important future market.”
Araquari is about 12 miles (20km) south of the infrastructure established in Joinville where BMW set up a training centre for the new plant at Perini Business Park in July 2013.
BMW founded a national sales company in Brazil in 1995 followed in 1999 by the establishment of a finance unit for Brazil. Since 2009, the company has been building motorcycles in Manaus.
