SA's infrastructure lagging behind: BMW SA

Speaking at the Gordon Institute of Business Science late on Tuesday (13 September 2011), BMW SA managing director Bodo Donauer said while port tariffs in SA remained high, the state of infrastructure was inadequate and inefficient to handle volumes of vehicles that were either transported by rail or other means.

The German-based luxury carmaker has invested R2.2 billion since 2009 in its Rosslyn manufacturing plant in Pretoria for the production of the next generation BMW 3 Series.

The investment will allow the maximum production capacity to increase to 87,000 units per annum, from the current 50,000 units.

"SA's infrastructure is not world class in terms efficiencies. It is a concern to the automotive industry in this country. SA's infrastructure needs to cope as we ramp up production due to rising consumer demand for vehicles," he said during a panel discussion.

Daimler AG, the global vehicle manufacturer, selected Mercedes-Benz SA late last year as one of the four global manufacturing plants that will build the new-generation C-Class sedans.

The German-based premium car producer said it would invest R2 billion in the SA plant in preparation for production of the next-generation Mercedes-Benz C-Class, which will be introduced to global markets in 2014.