The announcement of the R454 million investments to the bespoke production facility in Durban was made by Andrew Kirby, President and CEO of Toyota South Africa Motors. In attendance at the occasion was Minister of Trade, Industry and Competition, Ebrahim Patel amongst other industry stakeholders and dignitaries. “In terms of the South African Automotive Masterplan (SAAM), local automotive value addition needs to be exponentially increased.
TSAM is committed to supporting the SAAM and has therefore proactively increased the local value addition of the Hiace Ses’fikile from 38% to 44%. This localisation has added R422 million per annum local value addition to the economy. Even more encouraging is the fact that we’ve been able to create an additional 80 jobs in the process,” says Kirby.
The total investment to the Durban based Hiace plant now comes to over R1 billion since the initial investment in 2012. “In 2012 TSAM switched from importing the Hiace Taxi as a Complete Built-up (CBU) to a Semi Knock-down (SKD) vehicle, and in 2015 to a Complete Knock-down (CKD). Since the introduction of the local manufacture of this product, we have seen the volumes increase from 9 300 units to 14 000 units per year, which equated to an increase of 37%. The most recent increase in demand from our customers to 15 000 units per annum has given us this opportunity to deepen our localisation, which will allow us to improve affordability over time,” added Kirby.
According to Toyota SA, the large investment reflects its confidence in the South African automotive industry and more specifically the KwaZulu-Natal economy. One of the largest sectors within the KwaZulu-Natal province is manufacturing which supports more than 350 000 jobs. “Since TSAM’s localisation programme began, more than 80 000 taxis have been assembled locally by Toyota. If each of those taxis opened their doors to commuters right now, more than a million South Africans would be able to climb in. The increased level of local content is an important part of the 2035 vision for the industry and will increase the participation of more South Africans in this thriving sector of the economy,” Ebrahim Patel, Minister of Trade, Industry and Competition.
The minibus taxi industry is one of the cornerstones of the South African transport system and provides public transport to millions of South Africans daily. As one of the largest vehicle manufacturers supplying this sector, Toyota SA continuously looks for ways in which it can actively participate in social upliftment programmes. In addition to a variety of others, Toyota SA is currently involved with two programmes that directly focus on taxi operators and occupants or commuters.
“The first of these is the Safe2School, Safe2Home project focusing on improving the safe transport of learners travelling by minibus taxis to school. This initiative is one that I am personally passionate about, in that the Taxi owners, drivers, parents and teachers will be better educated on road safety. This initiative, together with the eThekweni Transport Authority and Global Road Safety Partnership (South Africa), will impact 120 taxi drivers and operators within 24 schools and approximately 6 800 learners,” Andrew Kirby explained.
Adding to Toyota SA’s efforts is its Taxi Education Programme, a tailor-made programme to empower operators through skills training in the business, leadership and entrepreneurial fields. “About 600 taxi operators nationwide have already participated, with 645 planned over the next two years,” Kirby concluded.
Toyota South Africa Motors is also looking at supporting other African countries in their direction of a local assembly. Kenya has seen an R20 million investment from Toyota SA for the establishment of its packing plant whilst the Automotive Production and Development Programme (APDP) remain intact. Kenya will from late October 2019 be able to assemble Hilux models which will see the reduction of the price in the Kenyan market.
