BMW Chief Says Considering Second U.S. Manufacturing Plant

BMW is considering a second U.S. manufacturing plant that could produce engines and transmissions, Chief Executive Harald Krueger said on Tuesday, shortly after a report that U.S. President Donald Trump would impose tariffs on imported cars from next week. Krueger in an interview at the Los Angeles Auto Show also said he backed British Prime Minister Theresa May's current Brexit plan to divorce the United Kingdom from the European Union.

"The compromise on the table is something I can clearly support," he said. May is drumming up support for the divorce deal with the European Union ahead of a December 11 vote in British parliament. "We're at the range where you could think about a second location" in the United States, he said, adding that such a factory would provide a natural currency hedge.

BMW is considering changes to U.S. operations as sales in the region grow, Krueger said. BMW has a U.S. vehicle assembly plant, in South Carolina, is planning to open a Mexico factory next year, and is considering changes to its current scheme of importing engines and transmissions.