German manufacturer BMW will be investing R2 billion to upgrade the Rosslyn plant near Pretoria, a project that will result in an increase in revenue for South Africa.
German manufacturer BMW will be investing a further R2 billion to upgrade the Rosslyn plant near Pretoria, a project that will result in an increase in revenue for South Africa.
BMW said the upgraded plant would now be capable of producing 60 000 cars a year and increase the company’s export capacity to R50 billion a year. Most of these units will be for export to the United States and Japan.
The changes will include preparation plant modifications and an extension to the body manufacturing and assembly complex. The number of employees at the plant will remain at about 3 000. The manufacturer has already spent R1,5 billion upgrading the plant since 1998.
The carmaker gave details of the investment at a breakfast attended by Alec Erwin, the trade and industry minister, on Monday. Erwin said the government was pleased with the progress made by the programme so far.
BMW SA managing director Ian Robertson said it was clear that the Rosslyn plant was an integral part of BMW’s worldwide production network.
“BMW’s investment in SA signifies enormous spin-offs for the motor industry, for our employees and for the SA economy as a whole,” explained Robertson.
He added that the export programme had resulted in BMW SA contributing more than R3,5 billion a year to SA business. BMW said the manufacturer had increased production from about 12 000 to 49 000 cars a year in the past three years.
The plant will have assembled 49 000 vehicles this year, with 75 per cent of these destined for the United States, Japan, Taiwan, Singapore, New Zealand, Hong-Kong and Australia.
