As an elegant and comfortable vehicle
As the production in September 1964 started, the car now with its 1700 cc and 80 hp motor, which gave it a broader torque range and made it more competitive, was sent on its way. The press wrote: "A car for the individualists, the basic concept quite conventional: a unibody four-door sedan, four-cylinder engine, four-speed gearbox, double a-arm front suspension and a live rear axle."
The GLAS 1700 boasted a high quality standard and a high level of maturity. The price of 9,250 German Marks gave the customer great value and GLAS also filled the gap in the market that was created when Borgward went out of business. The engine performance was later increased to 85 hp and with a curb weight of 1,200 kg the top speed was a real 160 km / hour.A 1700 TS version with 100 hp at 5,500 RPM followed, where a top speed of 170 km / hour could be reached. In 1965 GLAS offered the first fully automatic four-speed gearbox on the market in 1700, a true pioneer. A Frua styled station wagon or estate was never produced (see "Other vehicles - prototypes).
From 1964 until the end of 1967 a total of 13,789 vehicles were produced, of which 928 were TS models and 284 cars with the automatic transmission. Under BMW's management the body continued to be built in South Africa, and was used on the BMW 1800SA and the BMW 1804. In Rhodesia these vehicles were manufactured and sold as Cheetah. Total production in South Africa reached almost twice the number cars produced by GLAS in Germany.