Swimming Against The Anti

Credit: BMW Swimming Against The Anti-EV Tide, BMW Will Build Electric Cars In The US July 1, 2026 20 minutes Steve Hanley 0 Comments Support CleanTechnica's work through a Substack subscription or on Stripe

What's Happening

In 1999, BMW countered the Mercedes M-Class with its own “sports activity vehicle,” the X5. It was a huge sales hit, as customers in droves decided they no longer wanted to drive sedans and preferred SUVs instead. BMW officially debuted the fifth-generation X5 this week, which incorporates many of the latest ideas that have gone into the company’s Neue Klasse vehicles. It will be built primarily in Spartanburg, South Carolina, at a factory that has just finished a $1.

Why This Matters for EV Owners

• Since 1994, that factory has assembled more than 7
• 3 million vehicles, with 412,799 BMW X models built in 2025 alone, the seventh time output has exceeded 400,000 units in a single year, reports Automotive Manufacturing Solutions
• Roughly half of current production is exported to nearly 120 countries, helping make BMW the leading automotive exporter in the United States by value, with close to 3 million vehicles shipped from US soil worth more than $113 billion to date
• Across nearly 30 US locations in 12 states and more than 400 suppliers, BMW says its American operations now support over 120,000 jobs and contribute more than $43

The Bigger Picture

3 billion annually to the US economy. With the X5 having sold more than 3 million units globally since 1999 — a third of them in the United States — Spartanburg’s role as the model’s global home looks set to deepen rather than diminish as electrification proceeds. It is somewhat startling to think that the largest exporter of US made vehicles is a German company, and there is a backstory here. Cars and trucks imported into the US pay tariffs — especially now. That means many foreign manufacturers find their products in the US are uncompetitive.

EV Comparison: How Do These Models Stack Up?

Among these models, the Mercedes EQS 450+ leads in efficiency at 15.7 kWh/100km, while the Mercedes EQS 450+ offers the longest range at 770 km WLTP.

Model	Battery	WLTP Range	Efficiency
BMW iX xDrive40	71 kWh	425 km	19.5 kWh/100km
Mercedes EQS 450+	108 kWh	770 km	15.7 kWh/100km

Data sourced from EVRoutes' vehicle database covering 60+ EV models. Ranges are WLTP-rated and real-world results may vary by 10-20% based on driving conditions.

What to Watch Next

But exporters can offset some of those tariffs, which gives BMW an edge over others, especially Mercedes, which also manufactures cars in America but mostly for internal consumption. A BMW Commitment Made In 2022 “When we announced our investment plans for South Carolina in 2022, we made a clear commitment to the future of the BMW Group in the United States,” said Milan Nedeljković, chairman of the BMW board of management, at the Spartanburg celebration this week. “Today, we are delivering on that commitment. The completion of our investments in Plant Spartanburg and Plant Woodruff demonstrates our confidence in the United States and reinforces South Carolina’s role at the center of BMW Group’s global operations.