[flyboy-sa]

Romeo. You sound like an uneducated person and you are from USA. Do your research before posting such nonsense. BMW SA's quality is equal to, and I think a few times has exceeded the production quality of the German plant. BMW SA has won several awards for their high quality, and if you have an E46 and you are in SA it comes from South Africa and was built with the aid of robots and very well paid labourers! I made a post of the Rosslyn (South Africa) plant and you can see for yourself the factory is clean neat and, as Robots are your thing - there are even robots in some of the pics I posted.

[E90Fleet]

Originally Posted by voltron1011

I think the biggest reason for moving production to another continent is to get away from the Euro currency. Since it appears that the Euro has made itself quite the strong contender, all of the Europpean exporters are feeling the crunch. VW does the same thing with the Jetta, which is built in Mexico. Since the Jetta is N. America's best selling model, they are saving not only in labor and shipping, but also the horrendous exchange rate (thanks to the 'incredible shrinking dollar'). Does anyone know what currency S. Africa uses? I'll bet that this plant isn't a 'sweat shop' like they portray. I bet the employees get paid very well for their economic region.

Our Currency is the "Rand"

Currently its R6.70 to $1,00
or about 15 US cents to the Rand

Our labour laws actually makes it quite expensive here compared to other countries, but as I said in my other reply we produce a lot of the base materials cheaper

But our cars arnt that much cheaper than the ones made in Germany once they get to the USA.

[silverado]

Originally Posted by Dave C. '06 330i

I don't think the "Afro-Bimmer" part is offensive at all, it's no different than saying Euro-Bimmer. It's the first four letters of the continent-dash-Bimmer. What's so offensive about that?

And saying that you wouldn't buy a BMW built in Africa is the same thing as saying you wouldn't buy a BMW built in China.

I don't think it's offensive, just ignorant. The fact is that no matter where BMW sets up thier plant, the quality control will be to BMWs standards or the people running it won't be working there long.

-Dave C. '06 330i

PS: Yes, I am a whitey.

Thing is, they didn't say they didn't want cars built in Africa, but "by Africans". It's like someone saying they don't want a car built by Americans (the people).

It's one thing to think that the whole conditions in a country is conducive to good or bad manufacturing. It's quite another to say that you don't want certain kinds of people to build your car.

[Bimmerguy]

Originally Posted by a3ndy

At the end of the day, you are still buying a BMW, and BMW have standards to maintain.

Associating the country in which your BMW is built to the quality of the car is just silly and somewhat xenophobic.

The X5 (built in the USA) consistently scores lower in quality (higher in number of gremlins) than any other BMW except the corporate test bed (the 7 series).

[Jason]

Originally Posted by flyboy-sa

Romeo. You sound like an uneducated person and you are from USA. Do your research before posting such nonsense. BMW SA's quality is equal to, and I think a few times has exceeded the production quality of the German plant. BMW SA has won several awards for their high quality, and if you have an E46 and you are in SA it comes from South Africa and was built with the aid of robots and very well paid labourers! I made a post of the Rosslyn (South Africa) plant and you can see for yourself the factory is clean neat and, as Robots are your thing - there are even robots in some of the pics I posted.

I think you've mistaken romeo's original post as his words. Those are not his words and he wasn't agreeing with what he quoted.

[flyboy-sa]

O flip let me rephrase. Whomever wrote that are idiots.
SORRRRRRY Romeo... now I will go hide in my corner

[Thavash]

As a South African I take offence to that highly ignorant thread.

Just to illustrate , the following manufacturers build cars in SA apart from BMW
Toyota ( Corolla , Hilux )
VW ( Golf , Polo)
Mercedes ( C-Class )
GM ( Hummer , some Opels)
Ford ( New Focus )

There's more as well, but you get the picture. In fact Toyota and Ford South Africa recent got huge contracts to build the Hilux and Focus for world markets.
The reason car makers choose SA is because we already have world class facilities and quality is good. And no, there are no tribals on the assembly line.

[romeo26]

umm..its okay dont worry bout it! i acctually want my car made in SA b/c ive heard good things bout it, and there quality!

[splintheter]

Originally Posted by voltron1011

I think the biggest reason for moving production to another continent is to get away from the Euro currency. Since it appears that the Euro has made itself quite the strong contender, all of the Europpean exporters are feeling the crunch. VW does the same thing with the Jetta, which is built in Mexico. Since the Jetta is N. America's best selling model, they are saving not only in labor and shipping, but also the horrendous exchange rate (thanks to the 'incredible shrinking dollar'). Does anyone know what currency S. Africa uses? I'll bet that this plant isn't a 'sweat shop' like they portray. I bet the employees get paid very well for their economic region.

Hi There Guys,

Im originally from SA. We use the Rand as our currency, it trades around 6.3 to the dollar and 12 to the Pound......


By the way, Dave C, who said the following:.......

" don't think the "Afro-Bimmer" part is offensive at all, it's no different than saying Euro-Bimmer. It's the first four letters of the continent-dash-Bimmer. What's so offensive about that?"


If you think AFRO is the first 4 Letters of Africa , then you need spelling lessons....

[ward]

I don't want a car built by americans

Dammit, Z4!! whoops

[Haiduc]

Originally Posted by E90Fleet

X3 is built is Austria not Germany

Hey,

Austrians have feelings too. My grand father was Austrian. I am sure he'd be offended.

Joking aside, all I want is for my E 90 to get here, whether it comes from Germany, SA or Austria. I can't take the pain of waiting anymore

[roburado]

Originally Posted by E90Fleet

X3 is built is Austria not Germany

Yeah...by Steyr. Not trying to say anything derogatory here.

[DaveCM5]

Originally Posted by splintheter

Hi There Guys,

Im originally from SA. We use the Rand as our currency, it trades around 6.3 to the dollar and 12 to the Pound......


By the way, Dave C, who said the following:.......

" don't think the "Afro-Bimmer" part is offensive at all, it's no different than saying Euro-Bimmer. It's the first four letters of the continent-dash-Bimmer. What's so offensive about that?"


If you think AFRO is the first 4 Letters of Africa , then you need spelling lessons....

Technically, you are correct! Thanks for the important information!

However, the BIG picture of what I was trying to say ...try to follow me here..... is that it is an abbreviation of the continent and the car's nickname, not a racial slur as some people are trying to make it. Anyone who knows any geography knows there are people of caucasian, black, indian, middle eastern, asian, and other descents on the continent.

I guess I should not have been defending the SA cars anyways...perhaps they do suck like people say. I don't really know....but I was just trying to give them the benefit of the doubt.

But I won't in the future!

-Dave C. '06 330i

[svengali]

Germany is known for the original design of the car. Not for quality control. You guys might be glad it is being put together somewhere else. The last ten or so BMW's from Germany that I have driven, all had body structures that were creaking at a ridiculous level. They were only a few years old too.

[svengali]

Originally Posted by Thavash

As a South African I take offence to that highly ignorant thread.

Hey Thavash, why don't you post some links or something to show some of the idiots here about where you live. Or more importantly, invite them for a few days to come to your land.

[CC 330i]

All I have to say is that in the 80s and 90s, the US had the highest paid Auto workers in the world, and the quality was not very good. So the labor wage has nothing to do with quality.

I can just see those highly paid UAW guys sitting around on their coffee break lamenting how so much manufacturing is moving overseas. High pay does not guarantee quality.