No brakes on SA’s car industry

Sometimes, we South Africans are too hard on ourselves and we see the glass as being half-empty and not half-full.

We cannot see anything positive and almost despise ourselves because we see ourselves as second-class global citizens.

And that’s understandable, given the huge chaos we see all around us in government departments and state-owned enterprises, where dysfunction and not efficiency is the order of the day.

Yet, as Ford Southern Africa MD Neale Hill reminds us today, we are capable of producing products in the motor sector which are the equal of those put together anywhere else in the world.

He should know – his factory at Silverton outside Pretoria send its vehicles to more than 100 markets. And they sell well in those markets – where customers don’t care about where they originate, they care about quality.

It’s a similar story with BMW, Volkswagen, Mercedes-Benz and Nissan, which all have plants here.

Despite the fact we’re on the tip of a continent far away from most markets, we can compete. And it’s all down to dedicated people and a little encouragement from the state in terms of financial incentives.

It’s money well spent because it creates jobs and they, in turn, create social stability.

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