http://www.abrbuzz.co.za JANUARY / FEBRUARY 2018 49
The Big League
In 2017, when BMW Group South Africa announced that an additional R160 million will be spent on enhancing its Rosslyn
manufacturing facility, with the aim to enhance production line speed, I sat up and took notice. BMW also announced that the
enhancement will increase the maximum production capacity by almost 10%, from 71 000 units to 76 000 units, which allows
for the potential to produce the highest volume ever in its 44 year history
T
he reason that I took notice is that BMW had already announced in 2015 that R6 billion was to be spent for the preparation for
production of the new BMW X3, with production scheduled to start in the fi rst half of 2018. The cars rolling off the line will be
for the local market, and more importantly, the bulk of production will go to Europe. Thus, when the invite came to the launch
of the X3, I accepted with alacrity, because I wanted to get a taste of the big league, and to bask in the confi dence shown by
the BMW bigwigs in allowing an assembly plant on the southern tip of Africa, to produce such an iconic vehicle.This vehicle is state of the art, and because of the technology inherent in the vehicle, the powers that be obviously take great care where
the car is built. The fi rst two generations were built in Germany and America, and now with the third generation China and South Africa
has been added to this exclusive list, which is a massive feather in our collective caps, because when it comes to vehicle production,
South Africa may be a minnow in the automotive ocean, but just look at the vehicles we are producing – and the X3 is top of the list.The X3 is an engineering and environmental marvel, which obviously adds brownie points to its global credibility, whilst its distinctive
looks adds brownie points to its credibility in your driveway. I could go on and on about all the cutting edge goodies in this car, but space
precludes even a modest attempt at doing justice to all its innovations, so go to http://www.bmwx3.co.za/BMW/X3 to allow yourself to gorge on
all the details, and to allow me to rather put my words in action, and suffi ce to say that the X3 has breathtakingly good dynamic handling,
and in the range topping M40, the refi ned engine gives absolute affi rmation of the press blurb’s claim of “combining muscle with manners.”
With regard to price, if you have to ask then you can’t aff ord it, but b ased on the fact that to date over one and a half million of these
cars have been sold worldwide, people who want to experience ‘The Ultimate Driving Machine’ and ‘Sheer Driving Pleasure’ always fi nd
the money.South Africa is now in the big league, and let us savour the honour.
VEHICLE LAUNCH
by Howard Keeg