BMW has been building vehicles in South Africa since the early '70s. BMW Plant Rosslyn was the first BMW manufacturing facility that was established outside of Germany. In 2009, BMW further showed its faith in South Africa when it committed to invest R2,2-billion in Plant Rosslyn to successfully secure the production of the F30 BMW 3 Series. Production on the new 3 Series has now officially started.
The fact that BMW decided to produce the vehicle in South Africa is a huge testament to the capabilities of Plant Rosslyn and the various people that work there.
“The BMW 3 Series is the most important volume-produced model by the BMW Group as well as the biggest-selling model in the entire premium segment. At the same time, every generation of the 3 Series Sedan has been built at Rosslyn and, since 1999, this plant has been responsible for production for important export markets such as the USA, Canada, Japan, Singapore and Australasia to name but a few,” said Frank-Peter Arndt, member of the BMW AG board of management responsible for production, in Rosslyn on Monday.
The investment in the plant is a boost not only to employment in the area, but is also the start of increased investment in the plant. BMW states that installed production is set to increase to well over 90 000 by 2013 after the company introduces a third shift. Also, export numbers are set to more than double in the near future.
In order to produce the F30 3 Series saloon, new equipment had to be installed at Plant Rosslyn.
The old, low-rise body shop had to be completely refurbished to make way for an all-new body-in-white facility. BMW had to install new robots and now make use of the latest-generation laser robots and “advanced bonding robots”. The paint shop at the plant also gets new robots for seam sealing, flange seating and undersealing.
The 3 Series Saloon is built from scratch, but gearboxes, engines and some drivetrain components are not assembled locally.
BMW South Africa is expected to launch the new 3 Series within the next month.
FACTS ABOUT BMW 3 SERIES PRODUCTION AT PLANT ROSSLYN
E36 3 Series – 92 000 units were produced between 1994 and 1998
E46 3 Series – 269 000 units were produced between 1998 and 2005
E90 3 Series – 342 000 units were produced between 2005 and 2012
