BMW led a 'southern manufacturing renaissance'

Editor's note: For more than 140 years, The Greenville News has told the story of our community and the people who live here. Each day this year we are publishing a brief piece of our history – Greenville's story.

Bayerische Motoren Werke AG changed the Upstate on June 22, 1992.

BMW announced it would build a plant not far from the Greenville-Spartanburg Airport. The factory, modern in every way, would be the first BMW plant in the United States.

Gov. Carroll Campbell had the pleasure of explaining that the factory would have about 2,000 employees and make 6,500 luxury cars. The Greenville News published nearly a dozen substantial articles about the Upstate winning the highly contested factory site. It had come down to a choice between Nebraska and South Carolina. The Greenville-Spartanburg area won with location, access to the port of Charleston, right to work laws, low average wage and substantial tax breaks.

BMW's success in the Upstate and its impact led to what economist Bruce Yandle called “a southern manufacturing renaissance,” and, with the building of ICAR, a new direction for Clemson University. After making the announcement, Campbell jumped into a brand new BMW sedan with the license BMW-1, and drove away.

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Correction: An earlier version of this article stated that the BMW plant here was the first outside of Germany and Austria. There was also a plant in South Africa before the plant here.