The improving global economy has had a very positive effect on the export of built-up vehicles from South Africa, with a 41,4 per cent jump in volume on a year-to-date basis from 114 665 units in the first nine months of 2009 to 162 172 units a year later.
The bulk of this growth of 47 507 units has come from Volkswagen, which contributed 41 299 units to the 2010 total as it ramped up exports of the new Polo. This performance has also strengthened the Uitenhage manufacturer's position as the No. 1 exporter from SA with a 33,4 per cent share of total shipments compared to a 25,6 per cent share for long-time leader Toyota. The latter only showed a 4,9 per cent improvement in volume.
The other major exporters, BMW and Mercedes-Benz boosted their export volumes by 13,3 per cent and 11,7 per cent respectively. Together these top four exporters are responsible for no less than 91,8 per cent of all SA exports of built-up vehicles, with the only other reasonable volumes coming from Ford (3,8 per cent share) and Nissan (3,3 per cent share).
The United States remains by far the largest market for SA-built vehicles, taking 40 471 Mercedes-Benz C-Class and BMW 3-Series cars. Next biggest market is the UK with Toyota Hiluxes and Corollas and Volkswagen Polos making up the 25 109 vehicles that went to that destination. Japan (16 537 Volkswagens, Toyotas and Nissans) , Australia (10 919 BMW 3-Series, Ford Focus and VW Polos) and Germany (9 000 Polos, Toyotas and BMWs) are the other important markets.
The African market is obviously taking a long time to recover from the financial turmoil and exports of SA vehicles to that continent took a 14 per cent dive in the first three quarters of 2010 compared to the situation a year previously. Volume was down from 31 454 units to 27 055 units.
Toyota remained by far the dominant player with a 69 per cent share of these exports, but its volume was down by 22 per cent and its share has decreased by 6,6 per cent.
Toyota’s exports of 18 682 units were split between 13 733 Hiluxes and 4 949 Corollas.
The only other exporter of significance into Africa is Nissan, which grew its volume by 9,8 per cent to 4 974 units, with share growing 4 per cent to 18,4 per cent.
Algeria is the largest market for these exports, taking 5 636 Toyotas and 967 Nissan pick-ups for a total of 6 803 units.
The next biggest market is Nigeria with 4 257 Toyotas, followed by Zimbabwe with a total intake of 2 257 units from a variety of suppliers, with Nissan and Toyota having the largest volume. Other reasonable markets were Egypt, Ghana and Kenya, which all took about 1 400 units.
Mercedes-Benz celebrated two noteworthy export achievements early in October with the largest single consignment of locally-built C-Class cars – 3 280 units – leaving for the US. What made this milestone even more memorable is the fact that this shipment included the 100 000th C-Class to be exported by MBSA to the US, all of the cars made at the East London plant that was last year judged best in the world among all brands and manufacturers serving the US market. This was acknowledged by a Platinum Award from the JD Power and Associates research company.
Meanwhile, the MBSA export programme is benefitting from the Transnet National Port Authority deepening the west quay in the East London harbour to permit more flexibility for larger vessels. This was in addition to the addition of an extra 1 200 parking bays in close proximity to the quay-side, making a total investment of R40-million by Transnet in the two projects.
On the other side of the coin it is being widely reported that the next generation Toyota Corolla, due in 2012 will not be made in South Africa, but rather in Turkey. Toyota may also transfer production of Europe-bound Corolla from Japan to this site due to the yen’s sharp appreciation.
The Turkish plant, which currently produces the Corolla Verso and Auris is capable of making 150 000 units, but last year it made only 72 000 units. The report says that besides improving the productivity of the Turkish plant the move is also intended to cut transport costs, citing Turkey’s proximity to Europe.
Toyota plans to use the SA plant as a key global base for production of pick-ups and SUVs to “emerging markets”.
