t all started fifty years ago when the first BMW vehicle was assembled in South Africa. Recently, Ferdi de Vos joined the Xplore Tour not only to celebrate the start of local production of the latest BMW X3 SAV in Rosslyn, but also to explore some of our local culture and heritage …
Walking through the now completed, state-of-the-art Plant Rosslyn, BMW-speak for its South African assembly operation, it was patently clear how a R6,1 billion investment has improved the facility over the past three years. The brand-new body shop erected for production of the latest BMW X3 is probably the most modern of its kind in the country, with almost 300 task-specific robots performing most of the assembly tasks, in stark contrast with how the plant operated a short fifteen years ago. As part of the largest infrastructure upgrades in the 45-year history of the plant, the paint shop received major modifications in new paint technology and body storage, and the assembly line, the last chain in the production process, received an elevated roof and bigger body carriers given the size of the X3. These upgrades have raised the maximum production capacity of the plant by almost 10% to 76,000 units.
Five decades ago
It all started fifty years ago when Pretoria based concern, Praetor Monteerders, began assembling BMWs at its factory in Rosslyn. When BMW in Germany acquired Praetor in 1973 and establishes BMW South Africa, this facility was the first BMW plant to be established outside Germany. Over the years some interesting models unique to South Africa, such as the BMW 735i, 333i, and 325i Shadowline, were produced here, but it became a world plant when twenty years ago, in 1998, it was allocated production of the BMW 3 Series, not only for local consumption, but also for overseas markets such as the UK, Germany, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, North America, South America, Singapore, Taiwan, and 13 sub-Saharan countries.
During this period the Rosslyn plant became the first in the world to achieve certification for its integrated (quality, health and safety, and environmental) management system, and in 2001 won the JD Power Gold Award for the best plant in Europe. In 2004 it won the JD Power Quality Award for the best automobile manufacturer in South Africa, and in 2015 it was awarded the prestigious Platinum Plant Quality Award in the JD Power IQS (initial quality survey).
The last BMW 3 Series, number 1,191,604, rolled off the Rosslyn assembly line in February this year, and the first X3 was assembled in April. We subsequently took this X3 on an X-trail from the assembly plant to the Port of Durban to witness the first batches of X3s loaded at the RoRo (Roll-on-Roll-off) vessel facilities of the Durban Car Terminal for their journey to Europe …
BMW X Lifestyle Park
Our “Xplore Tour” started at the brand new Auto Bavaria showroom facility in Midrand that opened its doors in June; quite apt, I thought, as twenty years ago, in 1998, this privately-owned dealership became the first black empowered dealership in South Africa when André Dreyer purchased it and Pamodzi Investment Holdings became partners. Ensconced in a pearl white X3 xDrive20d we made our way around the humungous Mall of Africa to the newly developed BMW X Lifestyle Park (XLP) in Waterfall, Midrand. With more than 30% of the global sales of BMW being made up of X-models, this venue is a great idea. Scheduled to open to the public in November, the XLP is a 1,3 km off-road track developed to showcase the capability of the xDrive system in all BMW X-models via twelve off-road modules.
With the tall PwC-building towering over us, we tackled the makeshift course (it was still under construction at the time, and we were the first people to try it out) consisting of steep gravel climbs and descents, angled passages, a wheel-articulation test, a water obstacle, and a long sand pit. Shod with standard 18-inch tyres the xDrive20d negotiated the obstacles with aplomb, making short work of the cross-axle test and gliding through the deep sand with ease. The key to optimal use of its xDrive system was consistent throttle control, and once one got the hang of it, the vehicle did the rest.
Cattle power …
From Midrand we headed North towards Rosslyn, and after a very enlightening plant tour, we took the N4 towards Bronkhorstspruit for a visit to the Bio2Watt Biogas Plant located on the premises of one of the larger feedlots in South Africa, run by Beefcor, and home to more than 25,000 cows.
Located close to its fuel supply, and with grid access and sufficient water, the facility consumes about 40,000 tons of cattle manure and 20,000 tons of mixed organic waste per annum. This is fed into two anaerobic digesters in which biogas (methane gas) is produced, from where it goes to a gas engine.
The electricity generated is then distributed into the grid for uptake by power purchasers such as BMW. The City of Tshwane is also a key supplier of waste to the project and the three to four MWh of electricity continuously produced is enough to power approximately 3,500 to 4,800 homes for a year.
It is a fascinating, if somewhat smelly, process and by the end of this year the entire electricity supply of Plant Rosslyn will be obtained from renewable sources – in line with the 2020 deadline of the BMW Group for all production locations to transition to fully renewable electricity supplies.
Panorama route
The next day we again traversed the N4 past eMalahleni, Middelburg, and Belfast and after the obligatory stop at Milly’s we took the dirt road from Machadodorp, or eNtokozweni, towards Dullstroom. The X3 felt stable and compliant on gravel, and on some of the rougher sections we were grateful for the sensible higher profile rubber on our X3, compared to the low-profile 20-inch tyres on the M-Line specced cars.
In the fly-fishing mecca of the country we stopped for waffles before continuing towards Lydenburg (Mashishing) on the R540 and then negotiated the twisty Long Tom Pass on our way to Sabie and Graskop.
The 140 kW of power generated by the diesel-fed two-litre mill in our xDrive20d sometimes was not enough to keep momentum on steep inclines in top gear, and even with 400 Nm of torque between 1,750- and 2,300 rpm it was slightly lethargic when one needed to overtake uphill. However, for a SUV its handling in the corners was virtually flawless, and on the long, straight tar stretches towards Three Rondavels the smaller X3 ran effortlessly and comfortably.
We soon reached our destination, the Makalali Private Game Reserve next to the Makhutswi River near Hoedspruit. After an entertaining evening and good night’s rest in the Main Lodge we swopped our trusty xDrive20d for the xDrive30d version with uprated three-litre straight-six diesel delivering 195 kW and peak torque of 620 Nm between 1,750- and 2,300 rpm. After Tzaneen the more powerful model stormed up Magoebaskloof with ease and then quickly and effortlessly cruised towards the scenic Legend Golf and Safari Resort near Mokopane where we had lunch, followed by a leisurely run back to Gauteng.
The X3 launched the mid-size SAV (Sports Activity Vehicle) segment in 2003 and since then BMW has recorded more than 1.5 million sales across the two model generations thus far. Our experience with the third-generation model, with its dynamic design, bigger interior, efficient drive systems, and luxurious appointments convinced us that you do not really need a bigger model for a trip such as this. So, we settled on the two-litre model as the one to have …
The locally assembled X3-models impressed with their build quality (except for a forgotten LLumar logo on one of the tinted windows and a slight rattle in the xDrive30d on rough terrain). From this month an entry level petrol engine derivative, the X3 xDrive20i, will also be produced. From our extended tour it was clear Plant Rosslyn is all set to be a part of the global success story of BMW X-models.
