Frankfurt Motor Show - Planning by BMW is far advanced for the manufacture of a new model at its Rosslyn plant in Pretoria when the current 3 Series, which was launched in 2012, reaches the end of its lifecycle. Most cars have a lifecycle of about seven years before being replaced.
Ian Robertson, the member of the board of management of BMW responsible for sales and marketing, confirmed at the Messe on Wednesday that a decision “should not be that far off”.
“We’re progressing to an announcement but are not quite ready for that yet. South Africa is an integral part of our worldwide network.
“It has delivered on everything that we set out to achieve. Clearly there are some challenges but I’m sure they will be overcome. Rosslyn and its workforce will continue to prosper as a result.”
Robertson said the decision was not dependent on an announcement by the Trade and Industry Department on the review of the Automotive Production and Development Programme, the outcome of the negotiations about the renewal of the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act or labour stability issues in South Africa.
BMW South Africa in 2013 reported that it had lost the opportunity to bid for the production at the Rosslyn plant of a second car model for the global market because of ongoing strikes that halted production in the motor industry.
PLANT QUALITY AWARD
Robertson said it was unlikely that two models would be produced at the Rosslyn plant in the future.
Tim Abbott, managing director of BMW Group South Africa, said the Rosslyn plant was very competitive within the global BMW production network and had recently been awarded the JD Power platinum award for plant quality for producing cars with the fewest defects of all the plants surveyed worldwide.
“Plant Rosslyn has an impressive 42 years history for BMW in South Africa and is here to stay,” he said.
Klaus Frohlich, the member of the board of management of BMW responsible for development, said whatever the next car was that was produced by BMW in South Africa would require significant investment.
Robertson said that the benefits of Agoa were viewed as “the cherry on the top” because it was not a good business case if production and investment decisions were dependent on them.
There was still an advantage to BMW’s South African operations over its German operations because of Agoa, adding they had to pay tax to export cars into the US from Europe. The Rosslyn plant produced about 69 000 3 Series in 2014, 40 000 of which were exported to the US.
Robertson said there were no plans by BMW to establish other manufacturing sites in Africa.
Business Report