General Motors Aft Er Years of Reputed Heavy Holden Operation in Australia This Year
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www.autolive.co.za Issue No. 97 | 31 May 2017 GGENERALENERAL MMOTORSOTORS TTOO LLEAVEEAVE SOUTHSOUTH AFRICAAFRICA Spin-Off Could See Mazda Bakkie Made Locally Again GMSA’s Port Elizabeth manufacturing plant and head offi ce facilities have been sold to Isuzu Motors SA, which will also run the PE parts distribution centre and its dealers will look after the substantial car parc of GM cars. BY ROGER HOUGHTON to Peugeot Citroën and is bailing out of Europe Japan and GMSA. It is now a wholly-owned Isuzu other than taking a strange decision to press on entity. Th ere will obviously also be job opportuni- with Cadillac and high performance Chevrolet ties for assembly line workers in the city when the Th e long-expected withdrawal from South Africa models in that market. It is also closing its GM Beijing Automobile International Corporation of General Motors aft er years of reputed heavy Holden operation in Australia this year. (BAIC) gets its manufacturing plant in Coega up fi nancial losses, falling sales and sliding market Leaving countries such as South Africa and and running. share, coupled with an inability to reach the 50 000 India was obviously a far easier decision than leav- Isuzu will also run the PE parts distribution units a year production volume required to access ing Europe aft er more than 100 years, they took centre and its dealers will look aft er the substan- the full benefi ts of the Automotive Production this big step quickly when a suitor was available. tial car parc of GM cars. Th e number of dealers is and Development Programme (APDP) has fi nally (GM will continue to operate a production plant in reportedly to be trimmed from 132 outlets to 90, been announced. India but will not sell its products in that country while about 600 employees at the GM factory and Of course, besides the local fi nancial and sales any more). head offi ce will be retrenched. woes, the US-based General Motors company un- Fortunately for the bulk of GMSA employees, At this stage, no announcement has been der CEO Mary Barra is now going to focus mainly the Port Elizabeth manufacturing plant and head made regarding the future of the Opel brand in SA on the Americas and Asia. It has already sold GM offi ce facilities have been sold to Isuzu Motors SA, Europe (basically Opel/Vauxhall and GM Finance) which was previously a joint venture between Isuzu continued on page 2 Page 8 Page 12 Page 18 Export records shattered Isuzu’s past, present Local hero invents engine and future Subscribe for free @ www.autolive.co.za Page 2 Editor and Advertising Manager continued from previous page make the Port Elizabeth factory a Th is will benefi t Mazda, which Liana Reiners global source for Isuzu one-ton pick- is making a strong showing on its [email protected] although a media briefi ng is sched- ups, medium, heavy, and extra-heavy return to SA under its own banner 083 407 4600 uled for Johannesburg on June 8. trucks. Th is will help them raise instead of as part of the global Fortuitously at almost the same output to at least the 50 000 units. Ford family. Th e fi nancial benefi ts Contributors time as GM announced plans to Unfortunately for Isuzu Motors will fl ow because the BT-50 will be Roger Houghton leave SA by the end of 2017, it has SA it will have to soldier on with the made locally again, instead of being [email protected] been revealed that Peugeot Citroën current, sixth generation Isuzu KB imported from Th ailand so it can be 082 371 9097 SA has been taken over by a Japanese for another couple of years as the sev- more competitively priced compared Stuart Johnston company, VT Holdings. It now enth generation is only expected in to imports such as the Nissan Navara [email protected] owns 51% of the local subsidiary 2019. However, it could add models and Mitsubishi Triton. 083 450 9255 of the French company, for which like a range-topping Z-Prestige bak- it paid about R23-million and this kie and the KB-based, seven-seater GM dealers will now Advertising Sales company’s range could now include mu-X SUV, which is a competitor have to resize as Opel products. of the Toyota Fortuner and Ford Liana Reiners Isuzu outlets and look [email protected] VT Holdings started out Everest, but was not sold in SA as it 083 407 4600 originally as the Honda Verno would have been in direct opposition to doing business Tokai dealership in 1983 and has to the Chevrolet Trailblazer and to a differently. Address subsequently grown signifi cantly, lesser degree the Captiva. 237 Rigel Avenue both in Japan and overseas. It is now South Africa did have a prede- One feels particularly sorry for Waterkloof Ridge one of the largest dealer groups in cessor of the Isuzu mu-X previously the GM dealers, many of them in Pretoria Japan, representing 22 franchises in form of the Frontier which was large groups. Traditionally GM has PO Box 914 005 and is also the importer of special- launched internationally in 1989 and been a big brand in SA, having been Wingate Park ised products such as Norton, KTM sold here at the turn of the century. established in 1926. Subsequently 0153 and Italmoto motorcycles as well as Once the new generation KB many of the dealers built large facili- 012 460 4448 Lotus, Caterham and Saab cars. VT goes into production in 2019 it ties and had big staff . Now they will Holdings is also a major exporter of could mean that the next Mazda have to resize as Isuzu outlets and Website used vehicles from Japan, shipping BT-50 could be built alongside it. look to doing business diff erently, www.autolive.co.za them to 150 countries worldwide. Th e reason is that the next BT-50 which will possibly lead to multi- Th e company already owns will be based very much on the franchising to stay viable. Facebook several dealerships in SA indirectly: next Isuzu KB instead of the cur- Th is is in fact the second time www.facebook.com/pages/AutoLive Hatfi eld Peugeot, Helderberg Fiat, rent situation where the BT-50 is that General Motors has departed the © 2017 WCM Media CC and Alfa Romeo, as well as Suzuki based on the Ford Ranger. Mazda shores of South Africa. Th e fi rst time outlets in Bryanston, Northcliff and Isuzu already have a joint was in 1986 when GM divested from Production and Helderberg. venture whereby Isuzu has been SA for political reasons. A manage- Now back to General Motors producing Mazda light trucks for ment buyout saw the establishment Marketing Support Services Danie Dreyer and Isuzu. Th e latter says it plans to the past 10 years. of the Delta Motor Corporation. GM [email protected] bought a 49% share in Delta in 1997 +27 (0)12 346 2168 and took full control in 2004. It may amaze some people to Layout and Typesetting know that seven US and European Bonita Tuson brands have left SA since 2008. Th ese are: SEAT (a Volkswagen subsidiary) Disclaimer in 2008, Saab and Cadillac in 2010, Daihatsu in 2015, Citroen in 2016, While reasonable precautions have been taken to ensure the accuracy Chevrolet and Chrysler in 2017. of the advice and information given Admittedly there have been to readers, neither the editor, the some new arrivals from India and proprietors, nor the publishers China, but none of them built up a can accept any responsibility signifi cant market share yet. for any damages or injury which The popular Chevrolet Spark is one of the locally produced Let’s hope no further established may arise therefrom. vehicles that has been axed. brands leave our country. ■ MONTHLY SALES STATISTICS The growing amount of advertising in AutoLive has made it necessary to relocate the four pages of detailed monthly vehicle sales analysis to the website www.autolive.co.za. CLICK HERE to access Subscribe for free @ www.autolive.co.za Page 3 Editor’s Note Public Holidays Aft er the many public holi- Take Their Toll on days in April, May felt like a very long month. And it was a April Vehicle Sales tough month too, with many challenges to contend with. Of course GMSA’s an- Retail vehicle sales in April took the expected dive due to the four public holidays in the nouncement that it will be month with four, 4-day weeks which were more conducive to holidaying than buying new leaving local shores made eve- vehicles. Aggregate new vehicle sales of 34 956 units were 13.4% below the 40 348 vehicles ryone sit up and take notice. sold in April last year. With the fate of Chevrolet sealed and Isuzu set to continue Last year the Easter weekend fell in March, so if one combines sales for March and April on its own there is still no clear picture on the future of Opel in 2017 and compares them with the combined total of the same months a year ago then the in this country. Th ose in the know say that an announce- drop is only about 5%, which is not so bad. ment is imminent. NAAMSA, commenting on the new vehicle sales statistics for April said that new vehicle On a lighter note we take a look at the booming business sales in all segments, except for medium commercial vehicles, had deteriorated sharply dur- of buying and selling vintage cars and Gumtree Auto’s Jeff ing the month, all registering double digit declines.