BMW SA built X3 vehicles making their way across the world

For the first time since the national lockdown, normality has been experienced in the automotive sectors with production restarting and dealerships opening their doors locally. For BMW Group South Africa this is not only where the situation has improved as they have announced that almost 2000 locally built BMW X3 vehicles have been dispatched for export.

Responding to global demand, this will be the first vehicles, valued at approximately R1.5 billion, to make their way to the European market from the Rosslyn based plant which resumed operations on 18 May 2020. While initially, BMW SA resumed production at the state-of-the-art facility with one shift only, a second shift was introduced recently with the endorsement from the government.

The second shift will see an increase in production at the local plant which has maximum build capacity of 76 000 units a year. This not only positively affects the staff at BMW Group’s Plant Rosslyn but will also benefit the South African economy. Further positively impacting local business and more specifically the transport and logistics industry, which employs thousands of South Africans, BMW SA needed to transport the vehicles to the port of Durban which was executed with 230 truckloads, as well as by rail network.

Prior to the introduction of the second shift of production, Gauteng’s Premier – David Makhura visited the plant with other officials and advisors to inspect its adherence to strict health and safety conditions. With measures such as mandatory daily screening, the supply of four masks a day, the appointment of dedicated Coronavirus compliance officers and health services personnel, the plant received its endorsement from the Premier.