• The Detroit Bureau, Friday, January 13, 2012 10:30 AM

The U.S. auto industry continues to be one of the drivers of the American job market – in this case, thanks to German manufacturers BMW and Daimler AG.

The two plan to add more than 1,500 jobs at factories in the Carolinas, the expansion at BMW potentially making its factory in Spartanburg, S.C., its second largest.  It is already this country’s largest exporter of automotive products to markets outside of the NAFTA region.

Daimler Trucks North America announced the addition of a second shift and plans to ramp up production at its Freightliner Truck Manufacturing Plant in Cleveland, N.C., creating more than 1,100 new jobs by the end of 2012. The additional workers represent a 72% increase in personnel at the plant and will include approximately 1,072 shop employees and an additional 29 engineering and support positions. A majority of the positions will be filled with recalled workers who were laid off during the recession in 2009. The ramp-up will nearly double the daily production rates at the Cleveland plant by October.

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