The Spartanburg plant was launched in March 1995. In the beginning the 3-series was built here. With the all new Z3, the plant changed into producing only the Z3, although the plant has a vehicle preparation center, which prepares the German produced cars for the American market. During its seven-year model life, 297,087 were built and distributed to more than 130 countries. The Z3s were built exclusively at the Upstate South Carolina factory for worldwide distribution.
Brief Timelines
September 20th, 1995 - The first roadster rolled off the production lines.
October 28th, 1997 - The 100,000th roadster rolled off the production lines.
February 13th, 2001 - BMW Manufacturing Corp. has produced the 250,000th Z3 roadster. It is Jet Black with a red top and Mugello Red seats with black inserts. The console is trimmed with red birchwood and the roll bars are black leather in front and red leather in back held together with red stitching.
June 28th, 2002 - The last Z3 roadster was produced at BMW Manufacturing Corp., marking the first model changeover for the 10-year-old factory. The 6-cylinder engine Sepia Metallic roadster with Arizona Sun leather interior rolled off the production line at 12:34 p.m., June 28, 2002.