South Africa, what is your favourite meal? Braaivleis! Sport? Rugby! Weather? Sunshine! And what’s your greatest car, South Africa? Chevrolet. Let’s see: it’s braaivleis, rugby, sunny skies and Chevrolet, uhh? Well, you sure sound like South Africa to me . . .” Well, maybe not quite so much anymore.

You may recall this as the opening lyrics of the radio advertising jingle for the Chevrolet. The advertising campaign in question was launched in South Africa in 1974, two years before television was introduced in the country – on January 5, 1976. The advertising campaign, it is claimed, was the brainchild of Jo Visser, an advertising executive, who based it on the “Baseball, Hot Dogs, Apple Pie and Chevrolet” advertising campaign run in the US. In case you were wondering, the South African jingle was deliberately bilingual.

But, alas, although South Africa still has braaivleis, rugby and sunny skies, it will have Chevrolet no more, for, on May 18, General Motors South Africa (GMSA), the manufacturer/assembler of Chevrolet vehicles, announced its decision to leave South Africa. This has also been called an exit and much more, but, somehow, it has not been called what it really is – a disinvestment.

This is not the first time that GM has disinvested from South Africa. You might recall that it did so in 1986, when it sold off its interest as a result of the passing of the Comprehensive Anti-Apartheid Act in the US. The company was subsequently rebranded as Delta Motor Corporation.

GM’s history in South Africa goes back many years. It was founded in 1913, initially to distribute only Chevrolet vehicles but started to manufacture/ assemble and distribute all GM’s vehicle brands in 1926. To complete the brief history – in 1997, it acquired a 49% stake in Delta Motor Corporation and in 2007 it became a wholly owned subsidiary of GM, again becoming GMSA.

The latest disinvestment – the last, no doubt – was announced as part of GM’s “key restructuring actions to drive stronger financial performance and focus its capital and resources on business opportunities expected to deliver higher returns”. GM indicated that its Indian manufacturing operations would focus on producing vehicles for export only and that its South African operations would transition to Isuzu Motors.

On the day the announcement was made, Trade and Industry Minister Dr Rob Davies stated in a media release that he had learnt of the announcement with regret and concern for the numerous employees whose jobs and livelihood would be directly and indirectly affected. He noted that the decision by GM was part of a broader international strategic move by the company to exit certain markets and focus the organisation on target markets and products, as evident from recent moves, such as exiting Australia in 2013, where it had a joint venture with Holden; pulling out of Europe in 2017 (when the Opel/Vauxhall brand was sold to Peugeot); closing a plant in Indonesia in 2015; and closing another plant in Halol, India, in April this year.

Davies stated that, given the intense competition in the South African market, especially after 1994, GMSA had experienced some difficulties, including its plant not meeting the initial yearly minimum production volume of 50 000 units set under the Automotive Production and Development Programme since 2013, sales having been on a downward trend for the past five years and exports remaining low – at about 2 000 vehicles a year, with a maximum production volume of 3 500 units a year.

The Minister added that, therefore, while it was regrettable to see GM exiting South Africa, poor market performance, leading to cuts in profitability, coupled with recent global events, had created the conditions to make such a move likely.

He stressed that the Department of Trade and Industry would continue to work with all stakeholders to mitigate the impact of this exit. These would include supporting Isuzu, including its vehicle assembly activities. Isuzu has been partnering GM in South Africa for years. He also expressed confidence that recently announced investments in Coega should save jobs in automotive production in the Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan area, and that expected investments and localisation by the remaining vehicle producers would have a positive effect going forward.

At the time of the announcement, several media reports were at great pains to point out that GM’s decision was “strictly a global decision” and that it was “not influenced by local economic or political considerations”. Really? You might want to cast your thoughts on the matter of South Africa’s recently acquired junk status.

The line of reasoning displayed in these reports reminds me of my own experience at school. It occurred at that time of my life where I had to justify my academic performance (or the lack or absence thereof) to my parents, and, in particular, to Dad. It goes without saying that great academic performance requires no justification or explanation; it is the opposite that does.

So, how does one explain bad marks? What you do not do is to blame the teacher, for he or she can react in kind, or in self-defence, which, in all probability, will only serve to worsen your position and increase the retribution. Another alternative is to assume blame for your own failures. At the time, it sounded self-defeating. Then there is the one that I considered to be the uncontested. It is where you address the matter of the lack of your own performance by means of comparison. So, before conveying my marks – or the lack thereof – to Dad, I contextualised them by pointing out just how difficult the test was and then citing the performance of those in my class that Dad knew, who, conveniently, performed worse than I did. My theory was quite simple: by the time I mentioned my marks, Dad would appreciate my performance, or rather the lack thereof. So, did he buy it? Let me just say that he decked more than just the argument.
To my mind, Davies seems to believe that the decision was out of the control of GMSA and GM. Perhaps GM would be glad that Dad is no longer around and that he is not the Trade and Industry Minister.

Surprisingly, at the time of writing this column, the National Association of Automobile Manufacturers of South Africa, of which GMSA is a member, had not issued a media release or statement of any kind. Surely, GMSA disinvesting from South Africa is significant, and even more so for the motor manufacturing/ assembling industry, if not in monetary terms, then for the international message it conveys.
Perhaps the most telling are the words of GM’s international VP: “After considered assessment, we determined that continued or increased investment in manufacturing in South Africa would not provide GM with the strong returns we require to support our global strategy.”