BMW's decision to set up a factory in the USA has proven successful. Shane O'Donoghuereports
Back in the early 1990s, BMW decided that it needed a new factory and that it should be built in the USA.
The county of Spartanburg, in South Carolina, was chosen for a variety of reasons, including the close proximity to good transportation links and the state's renowned Technical Education System, which BMW saw as key to developing a skilled workforce.
Despite the Germanic-sounding name (burg comes from the German for hill fort), the city was named after the Spartan regiment of the South Carolina Militia in the late 1700s.
Today, the BMW plant is double the size it was when production started and 4,500 "associates" are directly employed there. According to official figures, BMW's presence in the state has encouraged 39 suppliers to relocate there, in the process creating nearly 17,000 additional jobs.
Small wonder then that the authorities look favourably on the company, especially as BMW appears to give a lot back to the community too.
Other than donating millions of dollars each year to schools and charity events in the local area, BMW's most ambitious project to date is the formation of the Clemson University International Center for Automotive Research (Icar), in association with the university itself and the state of South Carolina.
Though the campus is not actually finished, the first completed and operating building is the BMW Information Technology Research Center (ITRC), in which the company has already begun work.
BMW hopes to gain from this set-up of the course, with access to a pool of keen students to conduct IT research for the company.
In return, the aim is for some of the teaching at the college to be carried out by engineers from BMW and other corporate partners. With IT giants Microsoft and IBM and tyre manufacturer Michelin also due to have a presence on the Icar campus, Clemson University has the chance to be a centre of excellence in automotive technology. Though you can't imagine BMW allowing another car maker into the facility.
So what does this mean to the average man on the street in upstate South Carolina? We talked to several residents to find out what they made of the "invasion" by a German company.
Everybody we spoke to agreed that the jobs created by a car plant in the area were invaluable, but few cared what manufacturer it was. Before BMW moved in, the Big Three American car makers dominated the market in these parts and, well, they still do.
The workers at the plant get a great deal, so the employee car parks are full of shiny new 3 Series BMWs, but away from the factory you have to look hard to find one among the Ford and Chevy pick-ups. Take the USA as a whole though and BMW sells six times more cars now than it did when the Spartanburg plant first opened.
Jim Clark, an ex-racer and now head driving instructor at BMW's performance center has an interesting take on the situation. Having moved to the area from California, Clark is perhaps more aware of the changes than a life-long resident would be.
He reckons that with the increase in college education and the migration of high technology companies to the area, the demographics are changing from predominantly working class to more middle and upper-class, ie BMW's target buyer.
You could say that, by moving to the area, BMW has actually created a customer base for itself.
PERFORMANCE DRIVING SCHOOL
Just five minutes away from the Spartanburg plant is the BMW performance driving school. This sprawling facility has several different paved tracks, a proper skidpan and a 1.4-mile off-road course, along with a modern building that can facilitate many separate groups at once.
The initial reason for the driving school was to allow BMW buyers to visit the factory and collect their shiny new car, then spend half a day under the watchful eye of the team of professional driving instructors on a variety of tasks.
During our visit we witnessed a procession of new BMW M5s undergoing "spirited" cornering by their keen new owners, including the use of the facility's Water Walls, which teaches accident avoidance and car control by deploying a wall of water in the path of the car, which the driver must attempt to avoid.
BMW has found that there is overwhelming demand for the school, and not just from BMW buyers.
NOWADAYS, the centre runs seven days a week and struggles to find enough good instructors to cope with demand. As well as hosting BMW buyers and enthusiasts, the centre is used for corporate training days and internal company training too.
With the launch of the new BMW X5, we were given free reign of the facility.
The off-road course was huge fun (if not quite challenging the car's capabilities) with several three-wheeling moments ensuring butterflies in the stomach. With regards to the X5's abilities though, the skidpan was most illuminating.
Even with all of the car's electronic safety devices turned off, it was pretty much impossible to get the X5 to spin on the soaking wet, low-grip surface. It just goes to show the inherent security of a four-wheel drive system and its relevance to on-road driving, as well as off.
Although the performance centre started out as a school, one of the engineers present let slip the fact that actually it has been used on occasion by the research and development team too, particularly on the up and coming crossover vehicle (codename E71).
With such fantastic facilities available, and more of the company's cars being developed for an American audience, it wouldn't be surprising to see BMW's engineers make further use of it in the future.