Which car manufacturer is the biggest exporter of cars from the USA? You may guess at Ford or GM but the answer may surprise you. It is actually BMW.  

2020 figures from the U.S. Department of Commerce show that for the seventh year BMW was the top car company by US export value exporting 218,820 SUVs and coupes during 2020 with a value of some $8.9 billion. The bulk of the cars are made at the Spartanburg plant in Carolina.

Interestingly the second biggest export market for BMW Manufacturing USA, after China at 23%, is Germany at almost 13% followed by South Korea, Canada and Russia.

Knudt Flor, president and CEO of BMW Manufacturing, commented “Claiming the top spot once again for U.S. automotive exports is a direct result of the commitment and dedication of the Plant Spartanburg team during the challenging 2020 production year.”

BMW announced their decision to locate the company’s first North American manufacturing operations in South Carolina 28 years ago and has been continuously developing it operations ever since. During the last six months of 2020, the Spartanburg plant produced nearly 218,000 BMWs, a record for any six-month period in the factory’s history, with many of the models produced plug-in hybrids.