There has never been a more challenging time to lead a car brand. But Steffen Knapp, head of Volkswagen Passenger Cars in South Africa, seems pretty relaxed despite being in the eye of a storm. The situation in the global car industry is chaotic, much is beyond his control, and outcomes are not clear.
South African consumers are under pressure, Knapp says. He describes the roll-out of 96-month financing contracts as a “timebomb”. He says that the real challenge for his dealers is to get people out of the cars they’re in, sometimes over-leveraged on that they cannot really afford, with huge outstanding balances and balloon settlements.
Knapp, who also controls other sub-Saharan Africa markets, is happy to share the company’s overall strategy to “sustain” the South African market , grow in other sub-Saharan Africa markets, and grow the commercial offering. “We’re confident the government will move well on this, and then next year we can really try to reach out and connect with customers before we land the [EVs] in a classical way,” he says.
VW’s Kariega plant is the only plant that now builds the Polo GTI, and one of five factories that builds the Polo within the VW Group production network. The Polo is the group’s second-best-selling product, meaning that Kariega is an important part of the VW ecosystem.
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