BMW to expand US assembly plant where it makes SUVs

BMW said Friday it will expand its assembly plant in the US state of South Carolina, making it the largest of theGerman car maker's production sites in the world by 2016, according to dpa.BMW chief executive Norbert Reithofer and US Secretary of CommercePenny Pritzker were in South Carolina for the announcement.Demand for SUVs in the US has prompted the expansion.Production capacity at the Spartanburg plant will increase to 450,000 units annually, about 50 per cent more than its current capacity, thecompany said.The expansion will mean the addition of 800 jobs, bringing the totalnumber of employees to 8,800.Last year, the BMW plant in the Bavarian town of Dingolfing,northeast of the company's corporate headquarters in Munich, was thecompany's largest assembly plant. It produced 343,000 cars, while inSpartenburg about 297,000 cars rolled off the line.There are 28 BMW production plants worldwide.BMW assembles nearly all its SUV models - the X3, X5 and X6, and theX4, an SUV cross-over - for the world market in Spartanburg.