Slide of
There are hundreds of factories making cars all over the world, but some models are made in places you wouldn’t expect.
There are also car companies building in countries you may not normally associate with them. So, here’s our run-down of the most unexpected places to find cars being built.
- Slide of
BMW: Spartanburg, USA
The USA is where the SUV originates from, so it’s fitting that BMW produces all of its current X-badged models at its Spartanburg factory in South Carolina. As well as the manufacturing plant, there’s an onsite BMW Performance Centre for owners to try out their X3, X4, X5 or X6 on- and off-road. The facility is so big, it also boasts its own Fire and Police Departments. It is BMW's single largest factory, capable of building over 450,000 vehicles per year, and employs over 9000 people.
- Slide of
Ariel: Virginia, USA
The Ariel range typifies the UK’s low volume sports car market, but they are also made in the USA. Ariel has been selling cars in the US since 2005 and in 2008 TMI Autotech began manufacturing the Atom to meet local demand. It’s proved such a hit, the company moved to a larger facility in 2016 and it’s added the Nomad to the cars it fabricates from the chassis up. Unique to US customers is the Paint to Sample option where the car can be colour-coded to any shade you want.
- Slide of
Ford: Hai Duong, Vietnam
Ford is a shining symbol of capitalism and industrialisation, so a factory in communist Vietnam may seem unusual for the Blue Oval. What’s even stranger is its factory in Hai Duong is a collaboration with local firm Song Cong Diesel. Together, they make the Fiesta, Focus and Transit, as well as the Everest and Ecosport SUVs. The facility has 670 workers and has been in business since 1995 serving Vietnam’s rapidly expanding domestic market. Perhaps ironically, 45 years after the end of the Vietnam war the country is one of America’s key allies in the region.
- Slide of
GM: Quito, Ecuador
General Motors factory in Quito is the largest car making plant in Ecuador and has been turning out a wide range of Chevrolet models since 1976. Initially, production was based on CKD (completely knocked down) kits sent from the USA, but now assembly consists of much more locally sourced materials from Brazil and Mexico.
- Slide of
Honda: Lahore, Pakistan
A joint venture between Honda and Pakistani firm Atlas resulted in a new factory being built in a record 11 months in Lahore. Honda Atlas Cars Pakistan produced its first car on 26 May, 1994 and it’s been going strong ever since. The City supermini is the mainstay of production at this facility and the plant has built 250,000 for the local market.
- Slide of
Jaguar Land Rover: Nitra, Slovakia
Jaguar’s E-Pace is a British take on the compact SUV, but 150,000 of this model will be made at its new £1 billion dedicated factory in Nitra, Slovakia. This is to keep up with demand for Jag’s new model and the same plant will also make Land Rover Discoverys. When in full swing, the facility will employ 2800 workers and it’s set to open in late 2018. We visited it earlier in 2017 in a new Land Rover Discovery to see how it’s getting on (pictured).
- Slide of
Aston Martin: St Athan, Wales
Aston Martin officially took over its St Athan’s site in Wales early in 2017 from the British Ministry of Defence. It won’t start producing cars there until 2019, but when the first car rolls off the line it will be an all-new SUV. Based in three huge hangars, the facility will help create 1000 new jobs and the first of these are already being trained up at the company’s Gaydon headquarters.
- Slide of
Jeep: Goiana, Brazil
Icons don’t come more Stars and Stripes than Jeep, yet a quarter of a million Renegade models roll out of its Goiana factory in Brazil. Many of these are for local consumption, but plenty are exported too and that keeps the 9000-strong workforce busy. The plant was opened in October 2014 and is regarded as the most efficient automotive factory in South America.
- Slide of
Nissan, Tennessee, USA
Nissan has two factories in Tennessee, as well as two others in Mississippi, so they must like high scores in automotive factory Scrabble. A number of Nissan and Infiniti models are built across the four sites, including the Leaf, and they produced more than 1 million in a single year in 2016. More than 22,000 people are employed at these plants and create the highest average income for any county in their respective states.
- Slide of
Renault: Oran, Algeria
Renault has been selling and building cars in Algeria - a French colony between 1856 and 1962 - for more than 90 years and its Oran plant is one of the biggest in Africa. It produces 25,000 cars per annum and employs 350 local workers. Production concentrates on the R domestic markets of North Africa with the Symbol, which is based on a Clio platform with a saloon body. This model helps Renault claim a 25% shares of Algerian new car sales.
- Slide of
Audi: Brussels, Belgium
Audi is deeply rooted in the German psyche, yet its big-selling A1 small car is made in Brussels, Belgium. The factory has been there for more than 60 years, but the A1 is the first model it’s taken the lead with when production began in 2010. It now employs more than 2500 workers making all versions of the A1 and the 540,000 square metre plant turns out more than 100,000 cars every year.
- Slide of
BAC: Liverpool, UK
Liverpool is more often linked to volume car production from Vauxhall and Land Rover, but the most glamorous four-wheeled product of the region is the BAC Mono. The Briggs Automotive Company makes the world’s only road-legal single supercar at its small factory in Speke positioned right next to Liverpool Airport.
- Slide of
Mercedes: Suez, Egypt
Mercedes-Benz has performed a Hokey-Cokey dance with Egypt, first being in, then out to nearby Algeria and now back in again. This time, the German firm has acquired a new 96,000 square metre site next to the Suez Canal to create a plant to build mostly trucks and buses for the North African market. However, there is talk of resuming car production there possibly in 2020.
- Slide of
Mitsubishi: Kaluga, Russia
Kaluga to the south west of Moscow is a long way from home for Mitsubishi, but this is where the Japanese firm builds its Pajero Sports SUV (pictured). This model is a recent addition to the plant, which has been building the Outlander for many years, and has created 440 new jobs to satisfy demand in Russia. The same factory also produces Citroen and Peugeot cars as part of PSA’s links with Mitsubishi.
- Slide of
PSA: Palomar, Argentina
The PSA Group has committed to invest US$320 million (£240 million) in its rejuvenated Palomar plant in Argentina. It’s all part of the firm’s Push to Pass plan of CEO Carlos Tavares (pictured) that includes launching 16 new car and light commercial models in South America by 2021. The updated factory will also become one of the most environmentally efficient in the region by reducing energy and water consumption by 50% while doubling the number of vehicles it builds.
- Slide of
Rossion: Florida, USA
If the name is unfamiliar, the car should be much more recognisable as the Rossion Q1 is a development of the Noble M12. Originally, Rossion brought in Nobles to sell as partly assembled models to get around US regulations. However, now the company builds complete cars for road and track use with a turbocharged 3.0-litre Ford V6 engine. It generates 450bhp and takes the Q1 to a top speed of 190mph.
- Slide of
Toyota: Valenciennes, France
While the Toyota Aygo is made in the Czech Republic, the Japanese firm prefers to build its Yaris supermini in France. The Valenciennes factory started construction in 1999 and the first Yaris rolled off the line in 2001. Productivity has since been increased to 184,000 cars per year, yet the factor now uses 90% less water than when it opened.
- Slide of
TVR: Ebbw Vale, Wales
TVR is more Blackpool than trams and sticks of rock, but the new Griffith will emerge in 2018 from a factory in Ebbw Vale in Wales. It’s part of a £30 million investment by the Welsh Government and will generate 150 jobs in the area. A 184,000 sq ft factory is being created and it will eventually build four distinct models from the revived British sports car brand.
- Slide of
Volkswagen: various, China
Volkswagen is one of the most numerous car makers in China in volume of models built and for how many factories it has there. At the latest count, the German giant has 20 car-building facilities, ranging from the Urumqi site in the north-west of China to the cluster of five around Shanghai that make everything from cars to trucks.
- Slide of
Volvo: Ghent, Belgium
Volvo has been building cars in Ghent, Belgium since 1965 when the 120 Series was the mainstay. However, this was more of an assembly job than outright production for regulatory reasons, but full production at the site began in 2014. Since then, S40, V40 and V60 models have been made there. By 2016, the factory built its 6 millionth Volvo.
The factory started producing the new XC40 small SUV in November 2017, and the company has installed a total of 363 new robots, including one vast machine nicknamed The Beast by Ghent employees that lifts lower car bodies to a conveyor belt close to the ceiling of the plant.
Close
