A Chinese state-owned car manufacturer agreed to build an 11 billion-rand ($759 million) auto plant in South Africa, the biggest investment in a vehicle-production facility in the country in four decades. The Beijing Automotive International Corp. plans to start production at the facility in 2018, International Chief Executive Officer Dong Haiyang told reporters in the southern coast city of Port Elizabeth on Tuesday. The plant will be.... Read more »

Posted on : Saturday , 3rd September 2016

 VEHICLE exports bounced back strongly in August after two months of treading water, reviving hopes that South African motor industry production will achieve record levels in 2016.   Local motor companies exported 35,620 cars and commercial vehicles last month, 27% more than they managed in August 2015. As a result, exports for the year to date – 232,324 – rebounded from a deficit at the end of July, to an overall.... Read more »

Posted on : Friday , 2nd September 2016

 Beijing Automotive International Corp. (BAIC), one of China's top automakers, said it will build a US$ 800 million auto plant in South Africa, the largest foreign investment in the country in four decades, as Chinese car brands look to expand overseas. The announcement comes as China's own car industry has slowed sharply in the last two years, making it bloated with excess capacity after years of explosive growth. China is the world's.... Read more »

Posted on : Friday , 2nd September 2016

French auto major Renault is looking to enhance exports from India to neighbouring countries and Africa as it seeks to make the country a manufacturing hub.    "Last month we started exporting Duster and Kwid to Sri Lanka. This month we will be entering Nepal while we also prepare to enter Bhutan," Sumit Sawhney, country CEO and managing director, Renault India Operations, told PTI.    Not only the.... Read more »

Posted on : Thursday , 1st September 2016

 Car manufacturer Toyota is well known, but Toyota Tsusho less so. We spoke to the trading subsidiary to find out more about its African operations.   Can you explain what the Toyota Tsusho division is, how it originated and its objectives?   Toyota Tsusho, established in 1948, is the sole general trading company within the Toyota Group. It has some 53,000 employees and its global network encompasses Japan, approximately 90.... Read more »

Posted on : Thursday , 1st September 2016

 FOREIGN motor companies planning to build vehicles in sub-Saharan Africa would be taking huge risks looking beyond SA, according to Jimmy Dando, regional head of sales and operations for Japanese manufacturer Nissan.   Most companies that had set up operations in other countries on the continent had been forced to either cut back drastically on planned production or mothball assembly plants, Dando said. SA, despite a fall in.... Read more »

Posted on : Wednesday , 31st August 2016

 SUPER Group, which dubs itself a "transport logistics and mobility group", bucked the trend in South African vehicle sales, reporting a "solid set of results" for the year to the end of June.   CEO Peter Mountford said on Monday that South African market conditions were expected to remain challenging and competitive. But that did not stop new vehicle sales by its dealerships from jumping 6.8%, as National.... Read more »

Posted on : Wednesday , 31st August 2016

 Pretoria Minister of Trade and Industry Rob Davies on Friday announced the biggest automotive investment in Africa in the last 40 years.   As part of the investment, the Coega Industrial Development Zone will get a record R11-billion upgrade from the Beijing Automobile International Corporation (BAIC).   The Coega Development Corporation signed a deal with BAIC for a completely knocked down automotive manufacturing plant in.... Read more »

Posted on : Tuesday , 30th August 2016

 Beijing Automotive International Corp. (BAIC) signed an agreement to build a new automobile manufacturing facility in a Port Elizabeth, South Africa industrial development, multiple news outlets reported.   The move by the Chinese state-owned auto maker represents the largest investment in the African continent’s automotive sector in four decades, a CNBC Africa report noted.   “The size of this investment.... Read more »

Posted on : Tuesday , 30th August 2016

  African Association of Automotive Manufacturers (AAAM) aims to unlock the economic potential and promote automotive sector across the continent   - Focus on driving investments in infrastructure, skills development, promotion of investor friendly regulatory frameworks and sustainable manufacturing   - Top-level engagement with government and industry leaders in Abuja, Nigeria   THE development and promotion of a.... Read more »

Posted on : Monday , 29th August 2016

  Toyota Tsusho will take on nearly twice as many trainees at its vocational education center here in the Kenyan capital, seeking to develop human resources to benefit the region's economy and the company's operations.   Some 381 students learned skills such as automobile repairs in 2015 at the Toyota Kenya Academy, an institute opened in 2014 by a subsidiary. An enrollment increase to at least 750 is planned starting this year,.... Read more »

Posted on : Saturday , 27th August 2016

 International car companies are looking at Africa as the last frontier for automotive growth, beginning a scramble for market share.   South Africa is the only country south of the Sahara with an established motor manufacturing industry and some of the world’s biggest car makers hope to use it as a base from which to expand sales around the continent.   German brands such as BMW and Volkswagen; Ford, Chrysler and.... Read more »

Posted on : Friday , 26th August 2016