General Motors South Africa (GMSA) will make an announcement on its future production and investment programmes in the first half of next year, says GMSA and GM sub-Sahara Africa president and MD Ian Nicholls.

The agreement will see GMSA increase production volumes at its Port Elizabeth plant significantly, he notes.

GMSA currently produces the Chevrolet Spark small car, Chevrolet Utility half-ton bakkie and Isuzu KB one-ton bakkie locally.

GMSA’s parent company, General Motors (GM), no longer holds any direct shares in the Japanese Isuzu group, but GMSA still builds and distributes Isuzu trucks and bakkies in South Africa.

In fact, as part of GMSA’s licensing agreement with Isuzu, the company has built the Isuzu KB at its Port Elizabeth plant for around 40 years.

Vehicle assembly at GMSA, including trucks, reached around 46 000 units in 2014, and is expected to dip to 44 000 units this year, owing largely to the softening domestic economy, says Nicholls.

A number of incentives under the South African government’s auto sector support scheme, the Automotive Production and Development Programme (APDP), only kicks in should a manufacturer reach production volumes of 50 000 units a year.

The APDP is currently being reviewed.

To truly benefit from the APDP, a vehicle manufacturer has to have a high-volume export programme, explains Nicholls.

GMSA currently exports only the Isuzu pick-up, and in limited volumes.

This may soon change, however.

GMSA, GM and Isuzu in July signed a framework agreement “focused on the increased co-operation and level of involvement of Isuzu in GMSA’s operations,” noted a statement released at the time.

“The main objective of this agreement is to ensure that the South African manufacturing operation is well positioned to assemble light commercial vehicles at high volume for both domestic and export markets, while continuing to provide a strong portfolio of Chevrolet, Opel and Isuzu vehicles to its customers.

“This agreement serves as confirmation of GM’s commitment to the long-term future of its operations in South Africa.”

Essentially the framework agreement allows GMSA to increase Isuzu volumes, says Nicholls.

“This agreement has been keeping me busy for the last 18 months.”

Volumes and export destinations, flowing from the framework agreement, will only be confirmed over the next few months.

Nicholls adds that GMSA will not only assemble Isuzu products going forward.

He also emphasises that all three of the company’s existing brands – Chevrolet, Opel and Isuzu – will remain part of the GMSA fold.

“We will continue to push hard across all three the brands. The [Isuzu] agreement does not diminish the role Opel and Chevrolet will play in our product line-up.”

Nicholls says Opel sales increased by 90% for the first seven months of the year compared with the same period last year.

GMSA will welcome a new Opel Adam derivative before the end of the year. A spruced-up Isuzu KB will also be launched this month.