Automotive

Total manufacture and exports rebounded well in 2021.

Volkswagen Polos have been made in the Eastern Cape town of Kariega (formerly Uitenhage) since 2017. In June 2021, as the company’s production of Polos in the year ticked past 61 000 (and Polo Vivos exceeded 10 000) the total production of the popular car reached the milestone of 400 000 units.

More than 300 000 of those were exported, materially improving South Africa’s balance of payments.

The National Association of Automobile Manufacturers of South Africa (Naamsa) has announced a name change to accommodate the fact that its mandate has expanded to represent the interests not only of original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) but retail OEMs and heavy commercial OEMs. It is now known as Naamsa | The Automotive Business Council.

The organisation published figures in 2021 to show that automotive manufacturing and exports recovered well from the dip caused by Covid-19. Exported vehicles in the year to October 2021 amounted to 245 820, an increase of 12% over the previous period and total manufacture reached a figure of 371 180 by September 2021, an increase of 22%.

Vehicle sales had declined sharply in the Covid-19 lockdown period. For the year to September 2020, sales of passenger vehicles went down by 34.4% and by a similar amount in light commercial vehicles.

The manufacturing part of the automotive and components sector is a vital part of South Africa’s manufacturing landscape. It is responsible for more than 112 000 jobs which translates to more than 450 000 jobs through the multiplier effect.

Long-term state support of the industry through the Automotive Production and Development Programme (APDP) is a major reason for the continuing health of this vital sector. The industry itself is looking to Africa for new markets. By increasing total production numbers to one-million vehicles, the sector will become more viable.

South Africa has three centres of automotive production: the Eastern Cape, Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal. In the Eastern Cape, the OEMs are Volkswagen, Mercedes-Benz, Isuzu and Beijing Automobile Investment Corporation (BAIC). Ford has an engine plant in Port Elizabeth.

In KwaZulu-Natal Toyota has a large plant just south of Durban. Although the manufacturers of loaders, dump trucks and haulers are not counted in the tally of South African OEMs, Bell Equipment, a global leader in its field, runs a large manufacturing site in Richards Bay.

Pretoria is home to BMW, Nissan and Ford. The Tshwane Automotive Special Economic Zone (TASEZ) is a project of the Gauteng Province, the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition (dtic) and the City of Tshwane. The implementing agent is the Coega Development Corporation (CDC), the developer and operator of the Coega SEZ.

Both the Nissan and BMW plants are expanding and Ford is investing in Silverton. There is an Incubation Centre for SMMEs at Nissan’s assembly plant in Rosslyn which is run by the Automotive Industry Development Centre (AIDC), a subsidiary of the Gauteng Growth and Development Agency (GGDA). ■

ONLINE RESOURCES

Automotive Industry Development Centre: www.aidc.co.za National Association of Automotive Component and Allied Manufacturers: www.naacam.co.za Naamsa | The Automotive Business Council: www.naamsa.co.za SECTOR INSIGHT The Kariega plant of Volkswagen has produced its 400 000th Polo.