Pretoria - Trade and Industry Minister, Dr Rob Davies, has welcomed BMW Group South Africa’s decision to invest R6 billion at its plant in Rosslyn, Pretoria.
“This investment is testament to the important partnership that exists between business and government and the role that business is playing in the development of the economy.
“We are excited at the prospect of the BWM Rosslyn plant as home to the next generation of BMW X3 vehicles. For us, this is a boost to our industrial policy objective of positioning South Africa as a manufacturing hub for high valued consumer products,” said Minister Davies.
The investment is one of the biggest in the local automotive industry and will enable the Rosslyn plant to produce the next generation of the BMW X3. The vehicle will be sold locally and exported to various countries.
The production of the next generation BMW X3 at the plant will replace the BMW 3 Series Sedan, which will now be allocated to other plants within the global BMW production network.
BMW Plant Spartanburg in South Carolina in the United States of America will also continue to produce the next generation BMW X3.
The Minister said a few days ago, the Department of Trade and Industry announced the findings of the mid-cycle review of the Automotive Production and Development Programme (APDP).
The APDP reaffirmed the department’s commitment to providing continued support to the automotive industry for the short to medium term. The department said it trusts that this provides the industry with the policy certainty necessary for long term investment planning.
“As we change production of the BMW 3 series sedan programme, it is our expectation that the new generation X3 programme will make a telling contribution to the long term development of the sector through higher production volumes, local value addition and inclusion of previously excluded groups in the sector,” said the Minister on Monday.
The Managing Director of BMW Group South Africa, Tim Abbott, said the potential for Africa as a future market for exports as well as the current APDP enables South Africa to play a significant role in the manufacturing industry and production of high quality cars.
“We are excited about the future prospects of the Rosslyn plant and cannot wait to start with the production of the next generation BMW X3,” said Abott. – SAnews.gov.za
