1 millionth X5 rolls out

Charleston Post and Courier
Allyson Bird
June 9, 2010

BMW’s Upstate plant marked the next milestone in its 15-year history Tuesday when its 1 millionth X5 sport utility vehicle rolled off the assembly line.

S.C. Commerce Secretary Joe Taylor and State Ports Authority board member Richard Hagins joined Josef Kerscher. president of BMW Manufacturing, to recognize the event.

The SPA leases the acreage under the sprawling factory in Greer to the company for $1 a year, and its downtown Charleston docks serve as the automaker’s primary export site.

The agency’s Union Pier Terminal handles as many as 400 cars for BMW each day on a facility shared by some cruise operations and the facade of an old rice mill.

The SPA is continuing to evaluate a more appropriate location for BMW’s cargo as it develops a master plan for the waterfront acreage, according to authority spokesman Byron Miller.

“This is a testament to our export partnership with BMW,” Miller said. “You can be in streets in cities across the world and see X5s made in South Carolina and shipped through our port.”

The X5 originally launched in South Carolina in 1999. Tuesday’s millionth X5 — with a black sapphire paint job and cinnamon brown Nevada leather interior — will be shipped from the Port of Charleston to a customer in China.

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