Johannesburg - The South African automotive industry has a
promising future with upward growth momentum‚ Trade and Industry Minister Rob
Davies says.
Speaking at the official opening of the Toyota Ses’fikile
taxi assembly line at Toyota South Africa Motors’ manufacturing facility at
Prospecton‚ Durban‚ on Friday‚ Davies expressed his satisfaction that
government interaction with the industry had contributed to the opening of the
Toyota Ses’fikile taxi assembly line.
The plant will enable the semi-knockdown production of a
16-seater Quantum Ses’fikile – one seat more than the previously imported
15-seater minibus to be manufactured in SA.
“Towards the end of 2010‚ government had various discussions
with minibus original equipment manufacturers including the Industrial
Development Corporation (IDC). These discussions were centred on major projects
aimed at minibus localisation and deepening in the sector‚” he said.
“Arising from these interactions‚ amongst other things‚
Toyota made an unequivocal commitment‚ and it is already in the process of
investing up to R70m in plant and facilities to commence production of the
Quantum in 2012‚” he said.
Davies said the automotive industry remained the largest and
leading manufacturing sector in the domestic economy.
“It has strong linkages with other industries across the
South African economic landscape. Through backward linkages it draws in
products from a range of other manufacturing sectors including steel‚ metal‚
plastic and leather products. Forward linkages extend to financial services‚
motor retail and advertising‚” he said.
He said the Industrial Policy Action Plan 2 put forward a
medium and heavy commercial vehicle development action plan that revolved
around the completion of a study to identify opportunities and interventions to
resuscitate the medium and heavy commercial vehicle sector.
Davies said the rationale behind this plan was that the
medium and heavy commercial vehicle sector was labour intensive in terms of
assembly‚ while a more active sector could also broaden South Africa’s
component manufacturing industry.
He said government policy stance had always been to create
this window of opportunity for minibus manufacturers to make the necessary
investment to localise their production facilities.
Johan van Zyl‚ president of Toyota South Africa Motors‚ said
the first locally assembled units reached dealers in May 2012 and featured
various improvements that had been welcomed as a major boost for taxi
operators’ profitability.
Van Zyl said the local assembly of people movers was one of
the first fruits of the government’s Industrial Policy Action Plan 2 and the
upcoming Automotive Production and Development Programme. He said these plans
sought to further develop the automotive and general manufacturing sectors by
emphasising local manufacturing‚ local part sourcing‚ and local employment and
personnel development.
The Toyota Ses’fikile taxi assembly line created 90 new jobs
in the start-up phase and a further 210 new positions created in upstream and
downstream suppliers and service providers to support this initiative.
Locally manufactured Toyota models are exported to 57 countries‚ and the Ses’fikile and Hino-ranges are exported to Botswana‚ Lesotho‚ Namibia and Swaziland‚ with a view to exploring other markets in sub-Saharan Africa.