General Motors South Africa (GMSA), in partnership with component manufacturer Tenneco South Africa (SA), on Thursday announced that it had been awarded a R6-billion contract to export catalytic converters to North America.

The catalytic converters, which would be manufactured at Tenneco SA’s clean air plant, in Port Elizabeth, in the Eastern Cape, would be supplied for General Motors’ (GM’s) next-generation V-6 engines, to be used in vehicles built and sold in North America from 2015 to 2022.

“The decision to award this contract to South Africa is a great show of support by our parent company, as it comes ahead of a clear legislative framework by the South African government to support the strategic growth of exports,” said GM Africa president and MD Mario Spangenberg.

The project would require around 10 t of platinum group-metals over the duration of the programme.

GMSA and Tenneco SA had a long history in the catalytic-converter industry, having cooperated for more than 12 years already to produce catalytic converters and related components for the North American market.

GMSA’s current exports stood at 2.6-million catalytic converters a year, used on 17% of the vehicles produced by its US parent company globally.

“Supplier operations in South Africa are competing with other operations around the globe,” commented GM International Operations global purchasing and supply chain VP Johnny Saldanha. “In order to attract business, suppliers need to be globally competitive in the critical areas of both cost and productivity. In parallel to this, business needs to operate in an enabling economic environment supported by a stable labour force.”

He added that GM often had to plan as far as five years in advance for its next vehicle programmes.

“We need to have a predictable and clearly defined legislative framework in order to accurately predict future trends and make realistic business plans.”