Talk:333i

The South African 333i

BMW South Africa has long represented both a significant source of business for its parent company, and also a source of some of BMW's more interesting products. Built between 1985 and 1987, the BMW 333i represents a joint effort by BMW SA, BMW Motorsport and Alpina. Essentially an e30 3 series fitted with the large block 3.3 litre 6 cylinder engine (as standard in the 533i, 633CSi, and 733i), the 333i built on the comparable earlier work done by Alpina.

The South African 333i should be viewed principally as a derivation of Alpina's similar car (the e30 B6), and a great many Alpina components were incorporated. The 333i is the only "official" BMW M30 engined E30 made back when BMW SA was allowed to do this "black ops" sort of small scale manufacturing,

The 333i was unusual, in that it represented a far more overt utilization of Alpina's efforts than had been customary. While BMW essentially produced an Alpina design for the South African market with the 333i, it seems unlikely that they would have been willing to do the same on a wider scale. Indeed, the opportunity to expand production and distribution of the 333i was readily available; none of the components required for the car were especially difficult to produce or expensive (in the context of the price the 333i would have realized in the market), and favourable reviews had worked their way into the European automotive press (especially in the UK). At the conclusion of the 333i production in 1987, 204 vehicles had been built, but only 162 were road registered with many having gone into production racing in South Africa. According to Records less than 40 survive,

While very few of these cars left South Africa (a few 333i's exist in Europe-in addition to the one Aero Silver car BMW officially brought into England, it is estimated that perhaps four cars were privately imported into the UK-and none are believed to have been imported into the US)