BMW South Africa

BMW South Africa (Pty) Ltd. is an automobile manufacturer based in Rosslyn, South Africa. The company is part of the BMW group.

BMW South Africa
Subsidiary
IndustryAutomotive
FoundedJanuary 2012
HeadquartersRosslyn, South Africa
ParentBMW
Websitewww.bmw.co.za 

History

As early as 1929, the first BMW motorcycle was imported to South Africa by a private individual.[1] The first cars of the brand in 1952 was a BMW 501.[2]

However, the assembly of BMW automobiles did not begin until 1968 by Praetor Monteerders in Rosslyn.[1] The company also assembled Jeep models.[3] In 1970, BMW bought shares in Praetor Monteerders to completely take it over in 1975, BMW South Africa to found, was also the first BMW plant outside of Germany.[1]

After an investment of 3.5 billion rand at the beginning of the new millennium, the Rosslyn plant was regarded as the most modern automobile plant in the southern hemisphere.[4]

Models

The first models produced were the BMW 1800 SA (from 1968) or 2000 SA (from 1969) derived from the Glas 1700.[5] First, the assembly took place from CKD -Bausätzen, were sent to the production facilities to South Africa.[6] In 1973 the optically revised models followed in 1804 and 2004, but only a year were built.[7]

From 1974, the BMW 5 Series was produced in South Africa from CKD kits.[8] This series there until 1985, after the interior and the engines of the new series 1982 E28 had received.[8] The new series E28 was also later replaced by the series E34, which was the last 5 Series produced in South Africa.[8]

Production of the BMW 745i began in 1983.[1] The vehicle was driven with the 3.5-liter engine of the BMW M1 and the time was the fastest BMW 7 of the world.[9] By 1986, to have been produced 192 vehicles of this type.[10]

The BMW 333i with 6 cylinders and 3.2 l displacement produced from 1986 (according to another source 1985 to 1987[11]) was also only produced in South Africa.[11] It emerged in this type with 204-215 vehicles.[1] Es entstanden 204 bis 215 Fahrzeuge dieses Typs.[11]

South African BMW 3 Series models have also been exported to Australia since 1994 and to other countries since 1999.[1] At the same time began after taking over Rover Group, they marketed and produced of vehicles of the Land Rover brand.[1]

With 7.8% (2006), the BMW Group has the largest market share worldwide outside of Germany in South Africa.[4] In 2011, around three quarters of production was exported.[12] The production was limited to the 3 series.[13]

Since 2018, the X3 (G01) series has been manufactured in Rosslyn (in addition to the production in Spartanburg). At the same time, the production of the 3 series ended after 1,191,604 copies and five model generations.[13]

Car of the Year

BMW models have already been named Car of the Year by the South African Motor Journalists Association (SAGMJ) seven times.[1]

  • 1988: BMW 735i
  • 1990: BMW 525i
  • 1993: BMW 316i
  • 1997: BMW 528i
  • 2001: BMW 320d
  • 2006: BMW 3 Series
  • 2011: BMW 530d
gollark: IIRC historical weather data is quite expensive, somehow.
gollark: Presumably if someone talks about the weather *repeatedly*, and you had a giant set of weather data, you could narrow down their location a lot.
gollark: No. Santa is not a robot, legally speaking.
gollark: * this
gollark: I WILL tell Santa about RBIs.

References
  1. Small Beginnings, Big Dreams. auf den Seiten von BMW South Africa.
  2. Keeping the wheels turning Archived 2015-05-11 at the Wayback Machine, in: Annual Report of the Southern African-German Chamber of Commercean Industry 2013-2014, S. 51–55.
  3. M. Compton/ T. J. Gallwey: Motor Assemblies Limited. A small South African Assembly Plant that became a major Manufacturer, 2009.
  4. Norman Lamprecht: The impact of the Motor Industry Development Programme (MIDP) on the export strategies of the South African light motor vehicle manufacturers (1995–2008), Dissertation an der Universität von Südafrika, Pretoria 2009.
  5. Ulrich Thieme: BMW 1800 SA und BMW 2000 SA auf e12.de.
  6. BMW 1800 SA/2000 SA 1968 - 73 "Wiedergeburt in Südafrika" auf oldtimerwebseiten.com.
  7. BMW 1804/2004 1973 - 74 "Limousine mit Facelift/letzter GLAS-Nachfolger" auf oldtimerwebseiten.com.
  8. Ulrich Thieme: BMW Südafrika auf e12.de.
  9. Heinz-Peter Schmitz: Details BMW 745i Südafrikaversion.
  10. The South African E23 M745i.
  11. Andrew Everett: BMW E30 Restoration Bible, London 2012.
  12. Manufacturing Facilities. Rosslyn Plant. auf den Seiten von BMW South Africa.
  13. Charles Cornew: African adventures, in: Automotive Manufacturing Solutions vom 4. November 2014.
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