The recent volcanic activity of Eyjafjalajokull filled the skies around Iceland and Europe with a huge ash cloud that could halt production of BMW automobiles at the US company’s factory in Spartanburg, South Carolina, reports AutoNews.com. If trans-Atlantic flights continue to be delayed for two additional days, says BMW spokesman Mathias Schmidt, the German automaker could be unable to supply the necessary transmissions to assemble X5 and X6 sport utility vehicles.
BMW hurting because of ash cloud?
Just imagine just what the ash clouds from Eyjafjalajokull are doing to the airline industry and just what a possible Hekla eruption could do if you think BMW’s bottom line would be hurt be a production layoff. According to the BBC, the International Air Transport Association finds that airlines are losing around $ 300 million per day total due to flights canceled because of the ash cloud. Billions of dollars might be lost if this continues for weeks. As numerous as 63,000 flights are canceled given that the eruption chain created the ash cloud on April 14. If the BMW plant in Spartanburg were to totally shut down, the business would be losing out on the production of around 600 cars per day, split between the X6 and X5 (numbers estimated by BMW). A press trip to a BMW factory in Shenyang, China was also called off because of restricted air travel.
America has been good to BMW in 2010
According to Bloomberg, the U.S. was BMW’s biggest market within the first two months of 2010, so shutting down X5 and X6 production will certainly be noticed. The X5 line appears to be considered BMW's "luxury SUV" class. Variants consist of the X5 xDrive30i, xDrive48i and turbo diesel xDrive35d. The X6 line bears the honor of being the “first ever sports activity coupe,” according to BMW. Model production affected by the ash cloud includes X6 xDrive35i, ActiveHybrid X6, and X6 xDrive50i.
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