BMW is considering first assembly plant in Latin America

BMW is considering to build a plant in Brazil. If this pushes through, this will be BMW’s first ever assembly plant in Latin America and would diversify BMW’s geographic footprint. The region’s economic importance has significantly grown in recent years. Living standards are rising quickly as Brazil prepares to host the 2014 World Cup and 2016 Olympics.

As of the moment, BMW sales in Brazil is about 10,000 units out of 1.46 million units sold worldwide last year. Still a bit small, but the sales have been growing about 50% each year. According to data from the German automotive industry association VDA, light vehicle sales in Brazil increased by 11% to 3.33 million units last year. This was enough to surpass sales in Germany for the first time.

“For us, it is really about the significance and prominence of the market, since we believe it has a big future. The development of Brazil over the past 10 years is impressive,” BMW production boss Frank-Peter Arndt told Reuters on the sidelines of the company’s annual news conference on Tuesday.

CEO Norbert Reithofer said that 2009 was the year of the economic crisis, 2010 was BMW’s year of a new beginning, adding that “2011 will be our year of opportunities.” Considering the growth in Brazil, this would clearly be one of these opportunities that he was taking about.

BMW will start slow with the decision. They will still look for a stable supplier base before they expand BMW’s motorcycle assembly in Manaus, Brazil for car manufacturing. If the demand for premium cars continue to rise in Brazil, BMW can expand the plant further to include steel stamping operations, welding, and painting.