AUTOCULT - BMW - 2004M SOUTH AFRICA 1973

A Bavarian in Africa South Africa and the German car industry – this was an alliance, which often took promising approaches, but never brought the desired success for both sides. Versed importers and clever dealers tried a lot of times to elicit the desired response from the well-funded African population. But the country-specific needs did not always correspond with the ideas of the contracting parties. In the mid of the 1960s the South African importer of the brand BMW, the company Praetor Monteerders, considered not only to import the Bavarian cars, but also to assemble them cost-effectively locally. The takeover of the car manufacturer Glas, based in Dingolfing (Bavaria), by BMW provided a good opportunity. The management of BMW saw potential to include the sportingly designed Glas 1700, with some modifications, into their car range. Under the designation BMW 1800 and BMW 2000 two different versions went on sale. The Bavarian descendent was produced until 1972, but the poor production quality affected the image of the label BMW negatively. To counter this, it was planned to rework the complete car and to adjust the design to match the BMW-typical look. The production of the new model started in August 1973. From September on the BMW 2004 M respectively 1804 went on sale at the local dealerships. The 2004-version with its 100-hp-strong engine proved to be more successful in sales than the 1804-version. But with only 1,288 sold copies, it also should have fallen short of BMW` expectations.