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Hyundai, BMW in plant talks with Mexican officials

BMW and Hyundai may be joining the rush for the border that has already seen Nissan, Honda and Mazda begin factory construction in Mexico, while Ford and General Motors have both made significant investments in their Mexican facilities. BMW's interest in Mexico has been apparent for some time, and while we'd heard grumblings about Hyundai's move into Latin America some time ago, the last we heard about it was in 2009.
This new move, reported by Bloomberg, doesn't get specific on which models will be produced south of the Rio Grande, and as neither automakers' spokespeople responded to the business site's request for statements, all we really have to go on are the statements of Mexico's Economy Minister, Ildefonso Guajardo: "I cannot talk for them, but I think that starting 2014 we'll have new announcements. At least for one." Which manufacturer that will be remains anyone's guess, although judging by all the recent scuttlebutt that's been going around, the smart money seems to be on BMW. We'll stay with this one.

BMW i3, i8 sales strong enough to reach almost 17,800 in 2014

BMW makes its futuristic i brand vehicles – the i3 and i8 – at a plant in Leipzig, Germany. But the customers most willing to buy one of these plug-in cars live in the country where the lightweight carbon fiber used in the body structure is made: the United States. Speaking at the Detroit Auto Show this week, Ian Robertson, member of the Board of Management at BMW AG, said, "The US is already our largest market for our electric vehicles, the BMW i3 and BMW i8. Worldwide, we sold close to 18,000 BMW i models last year. Nearly three-quarters of these sales occurred in the second half of the year, when the global rollout – including the US – really got underway. Demand for these vehicles continues to be high and I'm delighted that we've been able to increase production to meet that demand." That sounds great, but the numbers aren't huge. BMW sold 6,092 i3s and 555 i8s (for a total of 6,647 i vehicles) in the US last year. Globally, BMW sold over two million vehicles in 2014, and 17,793 of those were plug-in i vehicles (16,052 of the i3 and 1,741 i8s). The production increase wasn't huge. BMW was making just 10 i8 vehicles a day at the beginning, but doubled that to 20 last fall. Since last spring (around April or May), the company has been making over 100 i3s a day, BMW spokesperson Verena Von L'estocq tells AutoblogGreen. Getting production right this first year has meant slow going, but "We're comfortable now," she said, adding that BMW expects more production increases in the future. Related Video:

China probing German automakers over spare parts

The Chinese market has proven to be a boon to German luxury automakers. However, the way that the companies have allegedly been controlling their supply of spare parts has begun to draw the ire of the nation's government. According to insiders speaking to Bloomberg, officials from the country's economic planning organization have opened a probe into Audi, BMW, Mercedes-Benz and some Japanese carmakers over claimed price inflation and limiting supply.
Specifically, the investigation centers around two aspects of how the companies do business, according to Bloomberg. Investigators want to know whether the original equipment component makers are able to sell spare parts only to automaker-authorized dealers or if they are also available to independent shops. There is also the issue of whether the price markup on replacement pieces is too high. The tight controls could be partially explained by China's reputation for producing counterfeit parts.
Evidently, the investigators haven't checked parts prices at car dealers elsewhere in the world. At least in the US, paying more at the dealer for factory components just goes along with owning a vehicle. If evidence of price fixing is found, the companies could face fines the equivalent of millions of dollars, according to Bloomberg.