BMW is hosting an event at its Spartanburg, S.C. plant later this week where, it's rumored, it will announce plans to build the long-awaited X7 SUV.
BMW is hosting an event this week at its Spartanburg, S.C. plant where the German luxury maker is expected to announce it will build the long-awaited X7 at the plant.
The X7, a large, three-row SUV, has been in and out of BMW’s product plans over the past couple of years. However, with the popularity of other large, full-size luxury SUVs on the rise, BMW executives appear to have given the project a green light.
The X7 would be the fifth SUV built in the Spartanburg plant. The plant now builds the X3, X4, X5 and X6 in the Spartanburg plant, which is now undergoing an expansion that will push the plant’s capacity from approximately 300,000 units annually to 350,000 units. Roughly, half the production from the Spartanburg plant is now exported to BMW dealers in an estimated 130 countries around the world.
Another round of expansion is slated to create space for the X7. The new expansion would boost the capacity of the Spartanburg plant to around 400,000 units, according to Automotive News.
BMW had previously put the X7 on hold. But with SUVs now picking up sales momentum in key markets such as the U.S., BMW executives have apparently reconsidered. With the demand for luxury vehicles growing faster than the rest of the new vehicle market, BMW is moving to add capacity around the world.
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BMW executives also elected to move forward with the X7 even though it will take two-to three-years to expand the Spartanburg plant, which suggests the proposed X7 won’t reach showrooms until late 2017 or more likely 2018, according to an estimate by Automobile Magazine.
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Development of the X7 also gives BMW a vehicle to compete with rivals Mercedes-Benz and Audi, which have expanded their product lines to offer larger SUVs. The X7 is expected to challenge the Mercedes-Benz GL, the Audi Q7 and the Lexus GX460 and even the Jeep Grand Cherokee.
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While the X7 is expected to utilize a uni-body style of construction, it also could also wind up competing for sales with General Motors popular family of full-size, body-on-frame SUVs, which attract affluent and well-educated buyers, who like the size and capability of GM’s big SUVs.
GM now holds about three quarters of the market for full-size SUVs with products, such as the Cadillac Escalade, GMC Yukon Denali and Chevrolet Suburban. GM hasn’t released the pricing for the 2015 Cadillac Escalade just yet. But the manufacturer’s suggested retail price for the Yukon Denali easily exceeds $60,000 and the Escalade is expected to cost even more.