Nissan South Africa says it is “optimistic” about the future of the local automotive manufacturing industry.
“We are investing in new plant infrastructure and innovative Nissan technologies at our Rosslyn plant to make sure our vehicles always meet global standards in terms of quality and cost,” said Nissan South Africa’s manufacturing director, Joan Busquets.
The automaker’s factory in Rosslyn currently produces the NP200 half-tonne bakkie and NP300 Hardbody one-tonner, but Mike Whitfield, managing director of Nissan Group of Africa, earlier this year confirmed that the production facility near Pretoria would eventually also build the new Navara.
Busquets, who Nissan SA says was credited with “turning around” the Japanese brand’s light commercial vehicle plant in Barcelona, believes that a fully trained workforce is crucial. Therefore, the local arm has invested “significantly” in skills training and development to assist industry initiatives aimed at addressing the shortage of skilled engineers and operators.
Busquets added that growing the local supply chain, which would improve the level of localisation on vehicles, was another enabler for “global competitiveness”.
“Nissan SA is introducing on-site suppliers which will also have the added benefits of reducing logistics time and cost. Also in the pipeline – with the aim of achieving the same results – is a Nissan Incubation Centre to assist small black-owned businesses to get a foot in the door of the auto supply chain,” he added.
Busquets reiterated that such measures were in support of the government’s automotive production and development programme, which aims to have the country produce 900 000 vehicles per annum by 2020.
“While this goal may not seem achievable for auto manufacturers in the current economic environment, we mustn’t lose sight of the long term,” he said.
