October 2014. That’s when BMW Group Plant Araquari in Santa Catarina, Brazil started production. A decade later, more than 100,000 vehicles have been assembled at the company’s first car plant in South America. The 3 Series Sedan is built there, alongside the X1, X3, and X4 crossovers. In a few weeks, the larger X5 in xDrive50e plug-in hybrid guise will join them.
To date, BMW Group Plant Araquari has benefited from investments amounting to BRL 1.8 billion. Over the next three years, an additional BRL 1.1 billion will be spent there to build additional models and develop new technologies. In the meantime, the goal for 2024 is to roll out 11,000 vehicles, an increase of 10% compared to last year.
In 2023, a quarter of the vehicles built at the BMW Group Plant Araquari had an electrified powertrain. It’s the company’s only factory around the world where the luxury brand makes gas cars, plug-in hybrids, and flex-fuel models. Less known outside of Brazil, the 320i Flex Fuel uses a reworked “B48” engine that can entirely run on ethanol.
Last year, BMW was the best-selling luxury automaker in Brazil for the sixth year in a row. Not only that but the 3 Series and X1 were leaders in their respective segments. The X5 xDrive50e will soon enter production at BMW Group Plant Araquari since the large luxury SUV was the company’s third best-selling model in 2023.
There’s enough production capacity at BMW Group Plant Araquari to accommodate the X5. When the plant first went operational ten years ago, the company said it would be able to make more than 30,000 vehicles each year.
The X4 is living on borrowed time since a direct replacement is not planned. At least not with combustion engines as a fully electric Neue Klasse-based iX4 is reportedly planned. BMW’s Spartanburg factory in South Carolina will build the last “G02” in mid-2025. It’s unclear when the Araquari site will assemble the final X4 but the end is nigh for the Mercedes GLC Coupe and Audi Q5 Sportback rival.
Source: BMW
