New BMW Factory ?

Originally Posted by tagheuer

Can anyone tell me why BMW refuses to sell Chinese made 3 series cars in the US?

The Chinese made 3 series differ slightly from those sold in the US under the same names, it is meant for the Asian market.

Originally Posted by tagheuer

Emissions can easily be changed too, plenty of 3 series cars are built in Germany for export all around the world, with differing emissions standards.

So there is another reason.

Why would BMW export from China if they dont have to. They can get cheap labor rate from Mexico and the shipping cost will be a lot less.
Bmw would also have to modify their Chinese production line in order to export it to the US. Its just not cost effective, there is also no need since the German and South Africa factories can more than enough satify the US demand and the Asian market is buying up every BMW being produced in China.

Originally Posted by tagheuer

they also build "regular" wheel based 3 series as well.

So are you saying that the Chinese built three series have different body structures, etc?

I find that very hard to believe. The photos I have seen appear to be identical to the 3 series we get here. I suppose they could simply not install side curtain airbags, etc. if Chinese safety standards don't require it...(we don't either).

But the space for the airbag is still there, just like all the "blanks" and knockouts for switches that may or may not be installed, depending upon whether they are required in Europe.

There are not significant, structural differences between the Chinese made 3 series and the European built 3 series, its essentially the same car.

Emissions can easily be changed too, plenty of 3 series cars are built in Germany for export all around the world, with differing emissions standards.

So there is another reason.

The reason is exactly as I stated, you just missed the second point. To be more detailed, the Chinese market is huge. It is getting bigger all the time. You have a huge population of people being elevated to an upper middle class income bracket looking for western symbols of status. BMW is one such symbol.

The Chinese government likes to see products built in country, and then sold back to their own people. They provide heavy incentives for western companies to build factories for this purpose. I would suspect BMW is building 3 series sedans with specification specific to the Chinese market. These could be different engines, body styles, safety equipment, etc.

It only makes sense for a global company to set down roots in a place of booming growth. I doubt there is some larger conspiracy here. They don't make their cars out of rice paper or something.

Originally Posted by The X Men

Why would BMW export from China if they dont have to. They can get cheap labor rate from Mexico and the shipping cost will be a lot less.

3 series built in Mexico would be classified as US domestic made right, thanks to NAFTA?

Having just owned a VW GLI made in Puebla, Mexico I can attest of the build quality first hand. In 4 years of ownership the I only visited the dealer once for a rear window track issue. At the same time, they performed a PCV recall. Aside from that, it was far more solid of a vehicle than the G35 coupe I had before that. Now if you compare a MKV Jetta/GLI to a MKVI Jetta/GLI the quality and cost-cutting measures are obvious...regardless of where the car was manufactured. I also know that VW spent millions on that plant in regards to training and QC. Robots manufacture, what, close to 60% of the cars anyway right? All the engineers running the factory came straight from Wolfsburg.

With all that being said, from an asthetics point of view, I'd prefer my BMW be German...but this coming from a guy waiting on my car to arrive from South Africa.

There are some extremely idiotic comments here. I am Mexican an engineer and a BMW owner who 335i M just finished being built yesterday in Germany. Do you guys think there are a bunch of lazy sleepy people in Mexico sleeping next to a cactus with a sombrero? Mexico has many world renowned Engineering and Science universities, who produce engineers capable of learning the BMW QC and machine control code from BMW engineers. I would suspect that BMW would want to hire quality people so that their band name doesn't go down.

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Nicely put esquilax.

Btw, sleeping by cactus in a sombrero sounds pretty cool right about now. I think I just need a vacation.

Does this apply for M3's too?

Originally Posted by esquilax

There are some extremely idiotic comments here. I am Mexican an engineer and a BMW owner who 335i M just finished being built yesterday in Germany. Do you guys think there are a bunch of lazy sleepy people in Mexico sleeping next to a cactus with a sombrero? Mexico has many world renowned Engineering and Science universities, who produce engineers capable of learning the BMW QC and machine control code from BMW engineers. I would suspect that BMW would want to hire quality people so that their band name doesn't go down.

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Im not Mexican. Regardless I agree that some comments here are the result of blatant ignorance without facts. Just going off on a tangent from speculations and personal opinions. I have no doubt that the quality will be just as good because Im buying a BMW and not a Mexican BMW or South African BMW or an American BMW. If you dont have faith in the brand and the strict QC to which they are held to then BMW may not be the car for you. There are many other brands that can satisfy your needs.

Originally Posted by NewToCarBuying

Does this apply for M3's too?

The M3 has always been built at the Regensburg plant,about 30 minutes from Munich.There is no way they will build an M3 in Mexico.

Originally Posted by Shades

The M3 has always been built at the Regensburg plant,about 30 minutes from Munich.There is no way they will build an M3 in Mexico.

The M will now stand for Mexico built.

Originally Posted by brkf

I see VW as worse than BMW for quality. Had several of all of them. Not single one would be called reliable/well built. But the BMWs still stood apart from the VWs and Audis, to me. My Japanese cars have all been bulletproof and beaten on the same way as my other cars. Seems to me almost a guarantee that a car made for a German brand and built in Mexico/USA will be of inferior quality to anything from Europe or Japan.

My built in Alabama and Ohio Hondas have had higher reliability and better quality control than my built in Germany BMWs. My three Hondas have had less issues over the last 10 years than have my three BMWs over the same time.

It has always been the OEM parts that fail, not the assembly itself and I find that the plastic parts in European cars don't seem to hold up as well as the Japanese models, not sure why.

Normally, when you start manufacturing in a new extra-national location increased costs are borne by the manufacturer, not the consumer. In the example of another wall Street premium branded product - when I worked at Gulfstream Aerospace we moved the manufacture of our wiring looms from Oklahoma to Mexicali, Mexico. Although we knew that ultimately we would benefit from the reduced touch labor costs in Mexico, we also knew that there was a learning curve. With a constant QC standard, to make sure the move was a good idea, we used the calculus of variations to determine if rework costs would relate favorably to the gains made through reduced production costs.