VW to invest R4.5bn in SA

28 August 2015 - 09:52 By Bloomberg, BDLive

Volkswagen wants to be the world's biggest vehicle manufacturer by 2018 and part of its strategy for global domination includes a R4.5-billion investment in South Africa over the next 18 months. The German company announced yesterday that it would spend about R3-billion on production facilities at Uitenhage, near Port Elizabeth in Eastern Cape, and R1.5-billion on improving its local supply chain by 2017. Part of the new investment will be into VW's supplier base and in the training of employees."Exports will again play a key role in our strategy going forward," Thomas Schaefer, managing director of Volkswagen Group SA, said.Car manufacturers in South Africa are expected to export 18% more vehicles this year as they take advantage of a weaker rand, the National Association of Automobile Manufacturers of South Africa said this month. Sales in the domestic market will probably fall 2.8% in 2015 as consumers battle with rising fuel costs and interest rates, the industry body said.Volkswagen said the investment would include a focus on new models featuring new technologies and driver assistance systems.These models would help Volkswagen to continue to dominate the South African passenger car market, in which it has a 21.4% share...

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