BMW - BMW more jobs and less jobs......More USA/Less EU

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Tue 11 Mar 2008 09:47
BMW more jobs and less jobs......More USA/Less EU - Falkirk Bairn
BBC reports

The luxury carmaker BMW has announced it will invest $750m (£373m) as part of plans to increase production in the US. The investment at the Spartanburg plant, South Carolina, is aimed at increasing capacity from 160,000 to 240,000 units by 2012.

The move is set to create 500 new jobs and comes after the firm recently said it would cut 7.5% of its German workforce in 2008.

The firm is facing both rising costs in Europe as well as slowing US demand.

Since last September, the dollar has tumbled against the euro, hurting firms that pay their costs in euros but receive payment in dollars.

The euro touched an all-time high of $1.546 last week after punching through the $1.50 level at the end of February.

BMW is not the only European firm affected by the swings in exchange rates.



Seems it is not Just GM & Ford suffering.
Crunch affecting even the HIGH flyers as well as the laggard! BMW GB might be looking for brokers to shift some iron in contrast to their stated position of not liking discounters.

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Tue 11 Mar 2008 11:24
BMW more jobs and less jobs......More USA/Less EU - Bill Payer
I don't know what the "right" price for a BMW (or a Merc, or an Audi etc) is, but looking at the pricing on their US websites is enough to make any European customer (and the manufacturers bean-counters) weep profusely.

Not only are the cars a good third cheaper than here, they're way better spec'd (entry level 3 series is the 328i for example), and they hold their price better too.

Are they getting cars at bargain prices, or are we being ripped off? I guess the truth is somewhere in the middle.

Edited by Bill Payer on 11/03/2008 at 11:24

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