Out with the 3er and in with the X3.
Today is a happy/sad day for BMW South Africa. The 3Series Sedan has been completed by the assembly line. The Rosslyn factory will be closing the Rosslyn factory after 35 years of producing 1,191,604 cars. This is to make way for the new X3. BMW announced its plans to build the luxury crossover in South Africa in November 2015.. The company invested 6 billion ZAR (roughly $420 million back then, $513M today) and production will begin in the next few weeks. To speed up production, $13.7M was also invested in October 2017.
It is important to remember that BMW’s Rosslyn assembly facility has produced 25% of all current-generation 3 Series Sedans. Each generation of 3 Series Sedans built in South Africa has had its own name over the years. The E36, which was sold between 1990-2000, was known internally as “Dolphin” because of its “elegant contours.” BMW also made a few special editions of the 3 Series Sedans, including the 7 Series-powered E30 and 325iS/ 325iS EvolutionHP (also E30), with an Alpina optimized engine.
The Rosslyn factory will no longer be assembling the 3 Series Sedan. However, BMW plans to decrease the model’s production. The car will instead be produced at its new factory in San Luis Potosi (Mexico). The next-generation G20 is just around the corner so the new CLAR-based 3 Series will soon be available at BMW Group’s new facility. The new plant will open in 2019, after a $1 billion investment. It will produce up to 150,000 cars annually.