The Toyota plant in Durban will ramp up production of the Hilux and Fortuner models from the current 380 units a day to 440 vehicles a day in September, then improving to almost 500 vehicles a day at the beginning of 2011, says Toyota South Africa Motors (TSAM) assembly GM Karl Beck.

“There is huge demand for the platform,” adds TSAM manufacturing press and welding GM Brett van Zyl.

Local and African sales are especially strong.

TSAM exports the Hilux and the Fortuner, built on the same platform, to the European Union and Africa. Domestically, the Hilux is South Africa’s best-selling vehicle, with almost 3 000 pick-ups driving off showroom floors each month across the country.

However, a production rate of 500 bakkies and sports utility vehicles a day is still short of the installed capacity at the Durban plant of 550 units a day.

TSAM, similar to all other local vehicle manufacturers, had to face rapidly declining production figures last year as vehicle sales in South Africa and in global markets were decimated by the global recession, with especially the European market recovering slowly.

Local vehicle production is only now starting to recover from the dismal levels seen in 2009.

Improved conditions have seem TSAM take on more than 400 new contract employees at its Durban plant.

This is good news for a company which has shed 1 500 contract employees since 2007, when it employed 10 000 people.

Local vehicle sales peaked in 2006, and have continuously dwindled until the beginning of this year.

Other good news for TSAM is that Hilux output at the Durban plant could be stimulated further with the introduction of a cab-and-a-half version of the popular bakkie later this year, should it also be produced locally.

In response to a query on the likelihood of this happening, TSAM spokesperson Leo Kok noted only that the Durban plant was “geared to produce all versions of the Hilux and the Fortuner”.

TSAM also exports the Corolla range to the European Union.

However, here the picture is not nearly as rosy as is the case with the Hilux.

Current production at the Durban plant is 150 units a day, with the installed capacity at 440 vehicles a day.

“The recession has taken it out of the Corolla overseas,” notes Van Zyl.

Beck says that it appears as if volumes will remain at the 150-unit-a-day level for “at least the next year”.

TSAM’s Durban plant produced 102 886 units last year, while its capacity is more than 200 000 vehicles a year.

Production for the first six months of the year stands at 64 355 units.