Volkswagen Group South Africa is working on a comprehensive electric mobility strategy with the purpose of laying a strong foundation for the introduction of battery electric vehicles into its key brands and removing the risk to its lucrative export business. Read: More EVs for SA roads Thomas Schaefer, chairman and managing director of Volkswagen Group South Africa, said on Wednesday it was a myth if South Africa believed it could carry on producing vehicles with traditional engines when the rest of the world is going electric. Schaefer said at the…
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Nissan, BMW and Volkswagen are in talks to jointly invest in the electric car market in South Africa
The announcement is made by Mike Mabasa, Executive Director of the National Association of Automobile Manufacturers of South Africa (NAAMSA). Will the electric car market finally take off in South Africa? That is the question that three car manufacturers want to address. They are: the Japanese Nissan, the Germans BMW and Volkswagen. Negotiations are currently underway to invest in the South African market. In concrete terms, they want to make proposals to authorities. Among the proposals is a 23% reduction in import duties on electric cars. These duties are currently…
Read MoreCatastrophe capitalism jumps on the electric car bandwagon, while South Africa sticks in the slow lane
As the world rushes into the future of electric cars, spurred on by catastrophe capitalists seeing this as The Next Big Thing, South Africa remains stubbornly wedded to fossil fuels – and it isn’t hard to see why. Electric cars are the future – if there is to be a future for humankind. Although climate change reports are fast becoming the new norm, most of us were nonetheless unprepared for the very recent reports about the Arctic being on fire, literally. Headlines like: Wildfires Ravaging The Arctic Right Now…
Read MoreNew national motor plan is geared up and ready to go
The economy is flat, industrial growth is stuck in limbo and prospects for the sector are poor. Cue government’s new SA Automotive Masterplan (SAAM). Will it fuel the results everyone is hoping for? Despite government oiling the wheels of local vehicle manufacturers with tax breaks, economic development zones and industry masterplans, it has yet to jump-start the state’s growth ambitions. For one, the Automotive Production Development Programme (APDP), which is currently in play, has not succeeded in achieving its 2020 target of producing a million vehicles per year. SA…
Read MoreSouth Africa must rev up its motor manufacturing engine or miss the bus
The next century will be very different from the last, and any manufacturer looking to stay ahead must innovate in order to keep the wheels turning. There are lessons in this for South Africa, too, given its big bet on car manufacturing. Will we adapt or break down? Technology is shaping the future of mobility, from electric vehicles to autonomous cars and e-hailing services, which eliminate the need for a car completely. A visit to leading car and motorcycle manufacturers in China and Japan reveals a century of…
Read MoreVehicle sales slowed by extremely tough economy
CAPE TOWN – The motor industry in South Africa is feeling the brunt of the country’s widespread retrenchments that are hitting all sectors hard, significantly reducing consumers’ spending power. This is according to WesBank executive head of Motor Division Ghana Msibi, who said consumers simply could not afford to replace their vehicles, let alone enter the market for the first time. “The economy remains tough.” The reality of the country’s struggling economy is evident in regular reports of new rounds of retrenchments across different industries. In the first half of…
Read MoreCar market struggling along in low gear despite attractive pricing
JOHANNESBURG – The South African car market continues to struggle, with the best performance seen in the used car sector, as financially stretched consumers increasingly opt for older cars at lower price points, according to the TransUnion SA Vehicle Pricing Index (VPI) for the second quarter of 2019.The numbers of new and used vehicles financed have fallen 7percent and 2percent quarter-on-quarter respectively, in spite of the VPI for new and used vehicle pricing remaining below inflation, with used vehicle pricing increases at their lowest since the same quarter 2014.…
Read MoreA look at SA’s auto manufacturing industry
Approximately one-third of value addition within South Africa’s domestic manufacturing sector is derived either directly or indirectly from vehicle assembly and automotive component manufacturing activity, according to Michael Mabasa, CEO of the National Association of Automobile Manufacturers of South Africa . This positions the industry and its broader value chain as a key player within SA’s industrialisation landscape. Naamsa represents, promotes and protects the automobile industry’s collective and non-competitive interests. It has more than 41 members, many of whom are vehicle manufacturers, importers and distributors, and truck and…
Read MoreToyota goes big on artificial intelligence at Tokyo Games
Tokyo – Toyota is readying various robots for next year’s Tokyo Olympics, including one that brings back javelins and other objects, a screen-on-wheels designed for “virtual” attendance and those in the likeness of the Olympic and Paralympic mascots. The mascot robots’ eyes change to the images of stars and hearts. The engineer in charge, Tomohisa Moridaira, suggested various possibilities, such as having the mascot robot hold the Olympic torch using magnets. Another robot, T-TR1, is a moving human-size display designed to represent people who can’t be there. Toyota has also…
Read MoreFord to create 1200 jobs as Silverton plant expands
JOHANNESBURG – Ford Motor Company of Southern Africa (FMCSA) has said it planned to create at least 1200 new jobs at its Silverton assembly plant in Pretoria as it expanded production in order to meet increasing demand for the new Ranger, Ranger Raptor and Everest. The company said yesterday that expanded production would add about 10000 jobs within the total value chain. FMCSA said the shift would begin working in August to take its total headcount in South Africa to more than 5000 employees. “The R3billion investment in our…
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