JOHANNESBURG: The expansion of South Africa's auto industry is central to the government's economic development strategy but the coronavirus crisis has forced carmakers into survival mode and could push ambitious growth plans out of reach.
The new scheme comes after a series of auto industry development plans and will be supported by investment and tax incentives that have been in place in some form for years. NAAMSA represents 41 firms - including BMW , Ford , Mercedes-Benz, Isuzu , Nissan , Toyota and Volkswagen - which make some 600,000 vehicles a year in South Africa and export about 65per cent of them.
Andrew Kirby, chief executive of Toyota South Africa, said last month that the risk to the country's role in global auto industry supply chains stemmed mostly from the vulnerability of its smaller component manufacturers. "Once global companies move export contracts, and invest in tools of production in another destination, the costs sunk into that move make it improbable that they would want to bring it back to South Africa," Moothilal said.NAAMSA's Mabasa said the overseas headquarters of some local component manufacturers had already indicated they could shift production to divisions outside South Africa.