The auto industry is in its third week of a national labour strike that has brought manufacturing industry to a grinding halt. Among those affected are Toyota, Volkswagen, Ford, Nissan, Mercedes-Benz and BMW. The strike reportedly costs the industry R700m per day as 72 000 worker have not been reporting for work.
Naamsa confirmed that aggregate industry sales of 54 281 units for September, 2013 reflected a decline of 1,5 per cent or 812 vehicles from the 55 093 units sold in September last year. This stems from the fact that over two thirds of cars sold locally are imported. However aggregate export sales had declined sharply by over 75,1 per cent.
BMW has since confirmed that it will be seriously considering the future of manufacture here in SA. Talking to AutoNews, BMW spokesperson Guy Kilfoil commented: “Future decisions are being made where South Africa would have been in the running. Based on the current environment we’re definitely not. You could say things have changed.”
“From our perspective we think the country is at a fairly major socio-political crossroads,” Kilfoil said. “South Africa is becoming less globally competitive in terms of wages, energy costs, water costs. All of those things are making South Africa a less attractive destination for foreign investment.”
In similar news Mercedes-Benz has confirmed that it is busy setting up a production facility in Brazil near São Paulo that will produce the all-new GLA Crossover and the next generation C-Class for supply into the US. Perhaps that could have a knock-on effect for the future of Mercedes production here in Port Elizabeth.
