Tag Archives: BMW

News

BMW Canada to Hike Prices Across the Lineup as U.S. SUV Imports Resume

BMW Canada is about to restart shipments of its most important vehicles—the Spartanburg-built X-series SUVs—even if doing so means swallowing one of the nastiest tariff cocktails in the auto industry.

After a months-long pause triggered by Canada’s retaliatory 25 percent tariff on U.S.-built cars (a response to President Donald Trump’s global auto import levy), Canadian dealers are bracing for fresh arrivals of the X3, X4, X5, X6, X7, and the halo XM. For retailers, the move comes not a moment too soon. Inventory of Spartanburg models has been all but drained, leaving showrooms short on BMW’s biggest moneymakers.

The gap hit hard. The X3 and X5—BMW’s Canadian best-sellers in 2024—fell 25 percent in sales by Q2 of this year. Together, U.S.-built SUVs once accounted for more than half of BMW Canada’s business. By mid-2025, they were down to just 38 percent. Dealers say the X1, X2, and i4 helped cushion the blow, but for many stores, losing the X3 and X5 felt like losing the spine of the lineup.

Still, BMW Canada somehow eked out a 5.3 percent sales gain in Q2 thanks to a surge in European imports. But ask any retailer, and they’ll tell you the comeback of Spartanburg SUVs is about survival, not just growth.

The Tariff Math: Brutal

Getting them back on the lot won’t be cheap. Because Spartanburg’s SUVs don’t meet the 75 percent North American content threshold under the USMCA—thanks largely to engines and transmissions shipped in from Europe—they’re sitting ducks for double duty. First comes the U.S.’s 25 percent tariff on imported parts. Then Canada slaps on its own 25 percent countertariff, plus a 6.1 percent most-favored-nation duty. The all-in hit? Roughly 31 percent.

On a $100,000 X5, that’s about $31,100 in tariffs alone—before transport, dealer margins, or profit. To spread the pain, BMW Canada isn’t just raising prices on U.S.-built SUVs; it’s hiking stickers across the entire lineup. Tariff-free models like the X1 and 3 Series will get pricier too, a move dealers hope will keep Spartanburg vehicles from looking prohibitively expensive.

What’s Next

There’s a glimmer of relief ahead. Dealers say a plug-in hybrid BMW X3 built in South Africa is bound for Canadian shores, sidestepping the tariff squeeze entirely. But for now, customers who want an X3, X5, or XM will pay more—possibly a lot more.

In the near term, though, most BMW dealers seem willing to take that tradeoff. “We can’t survive on just X1s and 3 Series,” one dealer told Automotive News. “We need Spartanburg back, whatever the cost.”

BMW Canada may not be saying much officially, but the message is clear: tariffs or not, the SUV backbone of the brand is rolling north again.

Source: BMW

News

BMW Dadong Hits 3.5 Million: The Black Warrior Rises

China loves a milestone, and BMW’s Shenyang Dadong plant just clocked a big one: 3.5 million cars built since 2003. That’s two decades of Bavarian metal rolling off Chinese assembly lines, capped by a landmark car that sounds more Marvel than Munich: a BMW 5 Series Shadow Edition, nicknamed the “Black Warrior.”

And fittingly so. If there’s one car that embodies BMW’s Chinese success story, it’s the 5 Series long-wheelbase, a chauffeur special that’s become the go-to ride for executives who prefer to stretch out in the back. More than 2 million 5ers have been built here alone, making it the undisputed heavyweight champ of China’s premium sedan ring.

But Dadong isn’t just about pampering backseat bosses. The factory has morphed into one of BMW’s most advanced facilities worldwide. In 2022 it got a digital makeover worthy of Silicon Valley—AI cameras at 30+ stations keep watch for the tiniest assembly hiccup, while paint quality is checked by 100,000 images per car, hunting down shadow imperfections with almost obsessive precision. If you thought BMW was fussy about panel gaps in Germany, Dadong is on another level.

It’s also the only plant on Earth building the iX3 EV for export markets, and it cranks out the long-wheelbase X3 and X5 for SUV-hungry Chinese buyers. All on flexible lines that can switch between petrol, plug-in, and full electric builds without skipping a beat. That’s iFACTORY strategy in action—lean, green, and digital.

Still, the gloss hides some cracks. BMW’s China sales were down 15 percent in 2024, exports sank by more than a third, and local EV upstarts are circling like sharks. Even the mighty 5 Series is under siege in a market where apps and range anxiety matter more than leather and legroom. Enter Birgit Böhm-Wannenwetsch, BMW Brilliance’s new CEO as of August, tasked with steering the ship through these choppy waters.

For now, though, BMW has every reason to toast Dadong’s achievement. 3.5 million cars is no small feat, and with its sister plant Tiexi, Shenyang is about to chalk up 5 million units combined later this year. Not bad for a hub that started out as BMW’s first China foothold.

And if the last car off the line was a Black Warrior, perhaps that’s exactly what BMW needs in China right now: a fighter.

Source: BMW

News

BMW Heart, Mercedes Soul?

In a move that sounds less like German engineering and more like a soap opera plot twist, we might soon be staring down the barrel of BMW engines inside Mercedes-Benz cars. Yes, you read that correctly: the Bavarian roundel under the bonnet of the three-pointed star. Somewhere in Stuttgart, an engineer just choked on his pretzel.

According to a whisper from Manager Magazin, Mercedes is in talks with BMW to buy its four-cylinder engines from 2027 onward. The candidate? None other than BMW’s workhorse, the B48 — a 2.0-liter turbocharged four-pot that’s already busy powering half the BMW lineup, from Minis to the X5. Built in Steyr, Austria, the B48 is as versatile as a Swiss army knife: it’ll fit sideways, lengthways, and probably even upside down if you asked nicely. For Mercedes, that flexibility means it can slot the engine into everything from compact runabouts to mid-size plug-in hybrids.

Now, some of you might be wondering: doesn’t Mercedes already have a four-cylinder engine? Indeed, it does. The shiny new M252, currently humming away in the CLA, paired with a mild-hybrid system. But here’s the snag — it’s about as good at playing nice with plug-in hybrid tech as cats are with bath time. Worse still, it’s built in China, which makes it a tariff nightmare for US-bound models. Cue the BMW B48 swooping in like a knight in Bavarian armor, potentially backed by a shared US engine plant to dodge Uncle Sam’s import taxes.

And this is where things get deliciously ironic. Remember when Mercedes promised in 2021 that it would be all electric by 2030? Fast forward a few years, and that dream has gone the way of your old iPod. With EV demand cooling faster than a Weissbier in the Alps, Mercedes has admitted that internal combustion will live “well into the 2030s.” Translation: the petrol engine is going nowhere, and Stuttgart needs a partner to keep the flames alive.

Of course, BMW is no stranger to lending out its engines. Morgan, Ineos, Range Rover — all happily running on Bavarian lungs. Even Toyota’s Supra isn’t shy about admitting it’s basically a Z4 in cosplay. But Mercedes? This would be unprecedented. Two German luxury titans sharing the same beating heart? It’s like discovering that Coke bottles its soda at the Pepsi plant.

If this deal goes through, expect purists on both sides to clutch their AMG and M Division rosaries. Will a BMW-powered Mercedes still feel like a Mercedes? Or will it have just enough Bavarian DNA to develop an annoying habit of tail-happiness on roundabouts?

One thing’s for sure: in 2027, the Autobahn is going to get a lot more complicated.

Source: Manager Magazin via Autocar