My Favorite Car: BMW Plant Tour Spartanburg, South Carolina

     My favorite friend, May Godfrey, works for my favorite car company, BMW. How cool is that? BMW is touted as the “ultimate driving machine”. May has been with BMW, Spartanburg Plant, South Carolina, since she migrated to the US with her daughter Camille. So it was really a privilege to visit the BMW car factory and Zentrum Museum courtesy of my childhood friend. 

BMW Manufacturing Co, 1400 Highway 101 S, Greer, SC as viewed from I-85 (http://www.neighborhoodpreviews.com).

     The BMW plant in South Carolina is the only BMW manufacturing company in the US. It is the only producer of the X3, X4, X5, and X6 in the world. The $2.2 billion plant is one of the company’s global five-plant production networks. The Spartanburg BMW plant employs 10,000 and fuels the economy of the Upstate Region (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BMW_US_Manufacturing_Company). Some of the BMW models are shown below (https://www.bmwusfactory.com/manufacturing/factory-products/plant-spartanburg-vehicle-models/

Some of the BMW models (above).

     Factory Tour.  We took the 10:00 am factory tour. According to their website, “BMW’s only American factory is a marvel of the blending of modern engineering and design aesthetics. Visitors have a first-hand look at the process of how the ultimate driving machine is built during the guided plant tour (https://www.bmwusfactory.com/zentrum/tours/guided-factory-tour/).” Visitors are not allowed to take pictures inside the factory, so I was not able to take my own pictures. 

We are being given a briefing before the BMW Factory Tour.

At the factory, humans and robots work together to achieve the BMW quality that is the envy of other car manufacturers. A video of how they manufacture their car is shown in their web site: https://www.bmwusfactory.com/bmw_videos/world-class-manufacturing/.

Inside the BMW plant. (http://www.neighborhoodpreviews.com)

 BMW Zentrum Museum.  After the plant visit, guests may take a look at the past, the present and the future of BMW, through a self-guided tour of the Zentrum Museum.

The BMW Zentrum Museum in Greer/Spartanburg, South Carolina (http://businessclimate.com).

      Inside the Zentrum Museum, we saw cute-looking cars called the Isetta cars. “The Isetta is an Italian-designed micro-car built under license in a number of different countries, including Spain, Belgium, France, Brazil,^[Germany, and the United Kingdom. Because of its egg shape and bubble-like windows, it became known as a ‘bubble car’, a name later given to other similar vehicles. The BMW Isetta was, in 1955, the world's first mass-produced-3-Litres/100-km-car. It was the top-selling single-cylinder car in the world, with 161,728 units sold (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isetta).”

Trina (upper L) shown with an Isetta car on display at the Zentrum Museum.

     Motorcycle fanatics would have a field day at the Zentrum. “BMW manufactured its first motorcycle in 1923, the R32, which featured a flat-twin boxer engine. BMW Motorrad still uses the flat-twin boxer configuration, but now manufactures motorcycles with a variety of engine configurations. BMW Motorrad regularly enters its motorcycles in the Dakar Rally, an annual car, truck, and motorcycle race that runs from Europe to Africa and has featured riders such as Simon Pavey and motorcycling celebrity Charley Boorman. BMW Motorrad motorcycles have won the Dakar Rally six times (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BMW_Motorrad).”

Trina with some of the BMW motorcycles on display at the BMW Zentrum.

     One of the most popular BMW cars is the Z3, “the first modern mass-market roadster produced by BMW. This was the first BMW model assembled in the United States.  It was later featured in the James Bond movie in November 1995, GoldenEye in which a blue prototype was provided for filming in late January 1995.  The entire 1996 BMW Z3 roadster production run, more than 15,000 roadsters, was sold out by the time the car was introduced (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BMW_Z3).” Photo below shows the Z3 on display at the Zentrum.

BMW Z3 featured in a James Bond 007 movie.

     A visit at the BMW factory and the Zentrum Museum usually takes about two hours and a mile of walking. It is highly advised the participants wear closed, comfortable shoes. This tour is advisable, not only for BMW fans, but other car enthusiasts who want to learn about making the ultimate driving machine, the BMW.

L: Me and May in front of a BMW Roadster; 

R: Me taking Trina’s photo inside the Zentrum Museum.

           The tour costs $10 for adults, $3.50 for students and BMW Car Club members (must have CCA card with you upon arrival) qualify for a discount. For more details regarding this tour, log on to https://www.bmwusfactory.com/zentrum/tours/guided-factory-tour/.