Travelling through the tame and not-so-tame parts of South Africa with the new BMW X3.
In all fairness, it was largely my fault.
Apparently, roadgoing 20-inch rubber doesn’t like it very much when you’re doing your best rally driver impression charging hard along gravel roads.
Anyway – and this is most definitely a uniquely BMW experience – I was given a behind-the-scenes look at how BMW’s Rosslyn plant works. Roughly an hour’s drive our of Johannesburg lies a car factory that has been steadily producing BMWs for 45 years. Specifically, the soon-to-be replaced 3 Series, and since April 2018, the X3. Of the over 18,000 produced since then, I had the privilege of driving one from Johannesburg’s OR Tambo International Airport. If you haven’t yet been to a modern car factory like BMW’s plant in Rosslyn, you’d be surprised to find how incredibly clean it is, and how few humans there are working on the assembly line. Part of the factory’s upgrading works over the past three years included the addition of a slew of robots. Over 300 of them reside in the body shop alone (the part of the production process that assembles the bodyshell), and the plant’s spray booth is now 100 per cent automated.
Esta historia es de la edición November 2018 de Robb Report Singapore.
Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 9,000 revistas y periódicos.
Ya eres suscriptor ? Conectar
Esta historia es de la edición November 2018 de Robb Report Singapore.
Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 9,000 revistas y periódicos.
Ya eres suscriptor? Conectar
BREAKING DOWN WALLS
Georgina Atkinson, managing partner of Origin Private Office, on the evolving landscape of high-end real estate.
Aged Gracefully
The Benromach 50 Years Old by Gordon & MacPhail is a delicious single malt, touched by love, passion and the human hand.
This Month's Feed
Only the best dining and drinking spots in Singapore.
Small-scale Thinking
Architect Todd Saunders wants to change the way we approach hospitality design from the ground up.
Todd Snyder Is Exactly Where He Wants To Be
\"Our whole goal is to present product in a way that guys get it and understand it, versus 'Here's some crazy aspirational brand-you go figure it out on your own'.\"
Depp Dive Into Sauvage
Johnny Depp on music, scents and the mystique of creativity.
Time For Poetry
Pascal Raffy on his love affair with the 202-year-old house of Bovet.
One of a Kind
The incomparable Lange 1 turns 30 this year and A. Lange & Söhne marks the occasion with its trademark understatement.
P For Personality
Enhance your swing, and inject your personal style while you're at it, with TaylorMade's new P-770 and P-7CB irons.
The Short-hop-adventure-craft Category Takes Off
Inside the flight deck of Pivotal's Blackfly eVTOL, an ultra-smart ultra-light with eight propellers, electric propulsion and no pilot's licence required.