The BMW SUVs and Roadsters are all built at the BMW plant in Spartanburg, South Carolina. In 1998, the factory was one of the first car manufacturers to become ISO 14001 certified.

In 2003, the energy centre started using methane gas from garbage in landfills to supply electricity and hot water for the paint shop plant, cutting CO2 emissions by 17,000 tons a year. When a car is scrapped at the South Carolina plant, 85 per cent of the material is recycled; for example, the metal body is compressed, sent to a local recycling group and is formed into metal containers.

Prior to 2004, the paint shop used 100 gallons of water a minute, today overflow is reduced by 30 per cent, saving nearly 9.5 million gallons of water a year. BMW is a leader in diesel technology; BMW's diesel engines put 30 percent less carbon dioxide emissions into the air than gasoline engines.