8553 Autolive 66.Indd

Issue 66 | 23 October 2014 www.autolive.co.za CRUNCH TIME FOR SA! BY ROGER HOUGHTON (Right) Barlow Manilal, CEO of the Automotive Industry Development Th e massive growth in vehicle Centre (AIDC), and component manufacture performed very well as in SA, fuelled initially by the programme director of MIDP and subsequently the the SAAW conference APDP, has been a major fac- with his succinct tor in the economic growth summing up of the of the Rainbow Nation since presentations. He is 1994. However, now there are seen here addressing warning signs that all is not guests at the networking well in the industry and the function, hosted by the future is not looking as rosy City of Tshwane. as the past. Th is was an observation of those who attended (Above) Prof Goran Roos ,advisor last week’s SA Automotive to the Australian Government Week industry conference at on the automotive sector and Gallagher Estate. Th e organ- manufacturing strategy, was isers put together an excellent a keynote speaker at the SA and varied programme with Automotive Week conference. many top-line speakers which had the fi nancial backing of the AIDC and its enthusias- tic CEO Barlow Manilal and his team, but unfortunately attendance was disappoint- ing and some of the speakers failed to pitch. (See AutoLive Editorial on Page 3). It is a great pity more of the top men and women in the industry did not take time out to attend this event as it was informative on a host of fronts and also very thought-provoking. Th e conference kicked off on a chilling note with a key Dr Johan van Zyl is not only the president of NAAMSA, but also heads up Toyota in Africa and South Africa. continued on page 2 Collusion allegations Brand important Innovation Award Stuart pays homage hit component for low-cost winners at to McLaren cars manufacturers car buyers Frankfurt and others ... Page 4 Page 5 Page 17 Page 23 and 24 Subscribe for free @ www.autolive.co.za Page 2 Editor and General Manager continued from page 1 vehicle-making ventures or expan- the only real opportunity for the SA Roger Houghton sions of existing plants). automotive industry lay in the ben- [email protected] note address of the whys and where- All this seems very relevant in the efi ciation of the country’s wide range fores of the imminent collapse of the SA context. of mineral resources as a real way of 082 371 9097 bulk of the Australian motor industry Th e interest in the Nigerian au- cutting costs. by Prof Goran Roos, who is an advi- tomotive sector is growing apace He explained that the current Contributor / Road Test Editor sor to the Australian Government re- and it was announced by the director average local content level in SA only garding the automotive industry and general of the Nigerian Automotive 40% per vehicle is produced locally, Stuart Johnston manufacturing strategy. Council, Aminu Jalal, another key which amounts to 290kg of steel, 96 [email protected] He spelled out the danger signs note speaker, that already 23 com- kg of aluminium, 16kg of copper and 083 450 9255 that SA needed to watch out for if panies have signed commitments 3kg of resin, with the remainder be- it did not want to follow the path with technical partners to assemble ing imported. (In this example the av- Advertising Sales that is leading to the demise of the vehicles in Nigeria following the an- erage amount of steel used in a locally Australian motor manufacturing nouncement of that country’s devel- built car was around 830kg, together Kieran Rennie industry. He said they are: rapid in- opment plan for the industry. with 235kg of aluminium, 16kg of [email protected] creases in costs, primarily in labour copper and 68kg of resin). 083 225 9609 and energy, an inability to produce The interest in the Nigerian “Should imports be reduced by vehicles and components competi- automotive sector is 10% an additional 103 000 tons of lo- Address tively due to comparatively low vol- growing apace. cal resources will be benefi ciated in Suite 107, MISA Centre umes and the growth of new regional SA, saving the country R2.5-billion a vehicle and component suppliers. Jalal said Nigeria was now working year,” explained Dr van Zyl. 12 Fir Street, Northcliff He said that the latter threat for SA on a local content policy which would He also posed the question: Johannesburg, 2195 could lie in Nigeria’s ambitious plans attract component suppliers. He said “Why does South Africa make only to re-establish its local car-making he hoped the SA industry would assist 15% of the world’s catalytic convert- Website business. in developing the Nigerian industry ers when we have 80% of the world’s www.autolive.co.za Prof Roos said component mak- as well as being component suppliers platinum reserves?” ers needed to have at least 70% of their themselves. Another presentation of concern © 2014 WCM Media CC business outside SA to survive the Dr Johan van Zyl, the president was that delivered by Roger Pitot, who possible end of vehicle assembly in of NAAMSA, who is also the presi- is now an advisor to the Department Production the country, which is a huge challenge dent and CEO of Toyota SA Motors of Trade and Industry regarding the Marketing Support Services All three remaining vehicle and responsible for the African con- review of the APDP. manufacturers in Australia: General tinent for Toyota Motor Corporation He said the programme was un- +27 (0)12 346 2168 Motors (Holden), Toyota and Ford of Japan, made the observation that able to fi x many of the costs relating [email protected] are expected to close up shop by 2018 to the motor industry, being ports, with the resultant loss of 17 000 jobs rail, and electricity charges as well Disclaimer and another 30 000 – 40 000 posts in as wage infl ation, strikes and skills While reasonable precautions have the supplier industry as well as the shortages. He said it was essential for been taken to ensure the accuracy A$2-billion the industry contributes the government and the industry to to the economy. work much closer together. of the advice and information given He said that low cost competi- All in all it was a conference with to readers, neither the Editor, the tion from Asian production hubs plenty of food for thought. It is just a Proprietors, nor the publishers such as Th ailand not only played a The Malaysian Rubber Export pity too few movers and shakers were big role in the Australian situation Promotion Council was one there to listen to the current state of can accept any responsibility for but are a real challenge for other car- of the international exhibitors play so that action plans can be devel- any damages or injury which may making countries. (In fact, Th ailand in the display area at SA oped quickly to get the business back arise therefrom. is currently out to attract many more Automotive Week. on track. ■ Subscribe for free @ www.autolive.co.za Page 3 WesBank Hails New Vehicle Market Recovery Editor’s Note WesBank’s third-quarter sales confi dence An increasing number of buyers are seek- indicator shows that dealer confi dence is at a ing value in the used car market. Applications high for 2014 – and at a level last seen in April for used vehicle fi nance grew 29%, year-on- APATHY OR ARROGANCE? 2013. Th e sales outlook is positive, as with the year, in September, and the used-to-new ve- Readers of AutoLive will previous quarter, despite July’s slight interest hicle sales ratio currently sits at 1.42:1. Th is know that I have a particu- rate hike of 25 basis points. According to the represents year-on-year sales growth of 16% in lar dislike for people who say 27th edition of Wesbank’s indicator dealers the used market. they are coming to events expect business sales to improve over the next Consumers are also spending more – the and then don’t pitch. I now three- and six-month periods. average transaction value for both new and have another gripe and this Confi dence and the associated outlook used vehicles continues to rise in line with CPI. is the fact that so few sen- are being positively infl uenced by new model Th e average new vehicle transaction price has ior members of our indus- launches, a stable interest rate that is still rela- risen steadily to R256 695 in September, while try attend important events tively low and marketing activities by OEMs. the average used car value has broken the such as the SA Automotive Despite slowly rising interest rates, con- R170 000 mark for the fi rst time, at R171 893. Week and the report back on sumers demand for vehicle fi nance remains WesBank initially forecasted a market KPMG’s annual, international executive survey. Is it a case of robust, with September seeing an all-time decline 0.6% for the industry in 2014, with apathy or maybe arrogance because they think they know all record number of applications for vehicle passenger cars down 2% and LCVs up 2%. the answers? fi nance, representing a 21% increase, year- However, it says prevailing economic condi- Th e SAAW held at Gallagher Estate recently provided an on-year. Th is is attributed to credit amnesty tions require a revised forecast.

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