By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
Photo Credit: Reuters.
BMW Group will build its new X3 model in South Africa from 2024, investing R4.2-billion to electrify its plant in Rosslyn, the company said in a statement on Thursday.
“From 2024, we will produce the BMW X3 in South Africa as a plug-in hybrid and export it all over the world,” Milan Nedeljkovic, chairman of the board of management of BMW South Africa, said in the statement.
“With an investment of R4.2-billion, the Rosslyn plant will be enabled for electromobility,” he added.
The Rosslyn plant currently produces the combustion engine 3 Series, with a capacity of up to 75 000 units per year, according to its website.
It added that the investment also underscores the BMW Group’s role as a key player in the South African automotive industry’s move towards a green economy.
BMW Group South Africa & Sub-Saharan Africa CEO Peter van Binsbergen stressed that BMW SA has not received any special treatment from the South African government to enable it to make the investment.
Van Binsbergen said this in response to a question that referred to the long delay in the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition finalising government policy and incentives for the automotive industry’s transition to new energy vehicles (NEVs).
“We made a decision as a group to go ahead with electrification because it makes sense to do it, not because any particular government incentive.
“We have been very vocal, not critical of government, and challenging to get an answer [on the policy] because we haven’t got an answer yet,” said Van Binsbergen.
Nedeljkovíc indicated that the shift in in the plant towards electro mobility would not have any negative impact on employment.
He said the experience BMW has from all its plants shows that electro mobility leads to a significant increase in work content based on the battery itself, the battery package and assembly system employed and this compensates for any reduction in employment in other areas.
Production of a plug-in hybrid vehicle is, he said, the first step in preparing the plant for electro mobility and preparing the employees from a skills perspective for electrification in general.
The investment announcement coincided with BMW SA’s 50th anniversary in South Africa, with Plant Rosslyn its first plant outside Germany.
Nedeljkovíc said more than 1.6 million vehicles have been manufactured in Rosslyn to date and exported to more than 40 countries worldwide, including 14 African countries.
He added that the BMW X3 is one of the most important volume models of the BMW Group and since 2018 more than 330 000 units have been produced in SA.
BMW announced in 2015 it would investing more than R6 billion in Plant Rosslyn to shift production from the 3 Series to the X3.