300 000TH BMW 3 SERIES ROLLS OFF ROSSLYN PLANT

The 300 000^th BMW 3 Series sedan is being produced this week at the BMW South Africa plant in Rosslyn, outside of Pretoria. Production of the car began in 2005 with the current-generation model which is dubbed the E90. At 300 000 units the E90 has surpassed production of the two previous models produced between 1990 and 1998, and 1998 to 2005, which cut out 92 589 and 269 810 units respectively.

More than this, the plant is now only the second plant in the world equipped to produce xDrive AWD 3 Series sedans, following the main Munich plant. Mind you these cars are all left-hand-drive and are not sold in South Africa. Our 3 Series only comes in rear-wheel-drive (RWD). The only AWD BMWs we find here are the SUVs like the X5 and X6.

“Although it’s a small production plant in international terms, BMW Plant Rosslyn is an important part of the BMW Group Production Network,” explains BMW South Africa Managing Director, Bodo Donauer. “Most of our BMW 3 Series Sedan export volume is produced for two of the most demanding customer markets in the world, being the United States and Japan. At the same time, we are only the second BMW Group plant (apart from Plant Munich) that produces the BMW 3 Series Sedan with xDrive.”

In addition, BMW Plant Rosslyn started exporting painted BMW 3 Series bodies and hang-on parts to other BMW markets for CKD (completely knocked down) assembly. That basically means there are countries buying these CKD parts, importing them and reassembling them for sales in their domestic markets. These additional export opportunities have resulted in an additional 5 000 units of export production for 2011.

To date, about 230 000 units of the E90 BMW 3 Series have been exported to markets such as the United States, Canada, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Taiwan, Singapore, Hong Kong, the Philippines and South Korea.

Plant Rosslyn is currently gearing up to begin producing the next-generation, all-new shape 3 Series for its chosen markets. The car launches in South Africa in 2012. Therefore expect to see some really nice specials on the current model as it phases out over the next few months.