This Is Not a BMW Plant
How top automakers turn to little-known suppliers for some of their sexiest cars.
Fortune Magazine
Excerpts:
...this X3 factory isn't in Germany, nor is it owned by BMW. It is in the Austrian city of Graz, a couple of hours' drive south of Vienna, and it is operated by Magna Steyr, a subsidiary of Magna International, the big Canadian auto-parts maker...
...BMW's X3 accounts for only half the vehicles Magna builds. Last year it cranked out a total of 227,244 cars and SUVs—more than the combined in-house production of Saab (112,000) and Porsche (73,000). On its 200-acre Graz site, Magna Steyr has five assembly lines supplied by two paint shops and six body shops, which draw stampings and subassemblies like doors from another Magna plant 12 miles down the autobahn. Besides X3s, Magna Steyr builds Saab's 9-3 convertible; several Chryslers, including a European minivan; all-wheel-drive editions of Mercedes' E-Class sedan and station wagon; and Mercedes' quasi-military G-Class SUV....
... For the X3, Magna gutted and revamped an old minivan factory that Chrysler had built in the early 1990s, but CEO Manfred Remmel figures that BMW still footed about half the cost to get the vehicle into production...
...Magna probably sells each X3 to BMW for around $14,000, half the U.S. dealer invoice price for a basic vehicle...
How top automakers turn to little-known suppliers for some of their sexiest cars.
Fortune Magazine
Excerpts:
...this X3 factory isn't in Germany, nor is it owned by BMW. It is in the Austrian city of Graz, a couple of hours' drive south of Vienna, and it is operated by Magna Steyr, a subsidiary of Magna International, the big Canadian auto-parts maker...
...BMW's X3 accounts for only half the vehicles Magna builds. Last year it cranked out a total of 227,244 cars and SUVs—more than the combined in-house production of Saab (112,000) and Porsche (73,000). On its 200-acre Graz site, Magna Steyr has five assembly lines supplied by two paint shops and six body shops, which draw stampings and subassemblies like doors from another Magna plant 12 miles down the autobahn. Besides X3s, Magna Steyr builds Saab's 9-3 convertible; several Chryslers, including a European minivan; all-wheel-drive editions of Mercedes' E-Class sedan and station wagon; and Mercedes' quasi-military G-Class SUV....
... For the X3, Magna gutted and revamped an old minivan factory that Chrysler had built in the early 1990s, but CEO Manfred Remmel figures that BMW still footed about half the cost to get the vehicle into production...
...Magna probably sells each X3 to BMW for around $14,000, half the U.S. dealer invoice price for a basic vehicle...