Article Summary
- BMW's most prolific factories last year were Spartanburg, Regensburg, and Tiexi.
- Total production dropped by 2.3% to 2,456,561 vehicles.
- The numbers listed by BMW include not just cars for customers, but also pre-production prototypes.
From Europe to the United States and from South Africa to India, the BMW Group operates vehicle factories worldwide. Last year, total production reached 2,456,561 vehicles across the three automotive brands, a 2.3% drop compared with 2024. As you can imagine, the core brand took the lion’s share with 2,171,700 vehicles carrying the famous roundel. MINI came in second with 279,476 vehicles, while Rolls-Royce finished the year with 5,385 units.
If you’re wondering which factory in the vast production network was the most prolific, that title goes to Spartanburg. The BMW Group’s site in South Carolina led the way with 412,799 vehicles, a 4.2% increase over 2024. The X3, X5, X6, X7, and XM are all built there, although the X4 recently went out of production. An indirect replacement is coming in the form of the fully electric iX4, but we’re hearing it will be made at the all-new plant in Debrecen, Hungary.
Located in BMW’s home country of Germany, Regensburg also grew by 4.2% last year. However, it had to settle for second place with 356,901 units. At this site, BMW builds the X1 and X2 along with their electric derivatives, the iX1 and iX2. Regensburg hit an all-time record last year and was the most productive factory in Europe.
The Tiexi site wasn’t far behind. One of BMW’s several factories in China secured the last place on the podium with 330,691 vehicles. Production at the plant grew by a significant 16.4%, where the X1 and iX1 are made alongside the 2 Series, 3 Series (including the CLAR-based i3 sedan), and the X3. The other plant in the Shenyang region, Dadong, assembled only 205,783 vehicles, a massive 40.2% year-over-year drop. The iX3, 5 Series, i5, and X5 are all built at the Dadong factory.
The Graz site in Austria isn’t a BMW plant, as it belongs to manufacturing partner Magna Steyr. The Z4 roadster is built there, though not for long, as production will end this month. The luxury automaker previously had a similar arrangement with VDL Nedcar to build MINIs in Born, the Netherlands, before bringing production entirely in-house.
As for the lesser-known Zhangjiagang factory, it is owned by Spotlight Automotive, a 50:50 joint venture between the BMW Group and Great Wall Motor, where the electric Cooper 3-Door and Aceman are produced.
It’s important to note that all these figures also include pre-production prototypes. That explains why Debrecen is listed with 4,221 cars for 2025 and even 92 vehicles the year before.
