Toyota opens revamped taxi plant, increases local content on Ses’fikile

22nd June 2015

By: Irma Venter

Creamer Media Senior Deputy Editor

  

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Toyota South Africa Motors (TSAM) on Monday officially opened its completely knockdown (CKD) Quantum Ses’fikile minibus plant, in Durban, following a R550-million investment in its local taxi assembly operations.

Construction on the CKD plant started in January 2014.

The Ses’fikile was aimed, primarily, at the local taxi market.

The TSAM plant had been upgraded from a semi-knockdown (SKD) plant.

SKD assembly had taken place since 2012, following TSAM halting the local production of a minibus taxi in 2004, owing to high investment costs and the unavailability of parts, said TSAM purchasing and engineering VP Anand Pather.

The company’s return to local assembly was prompted by negotiations between government and TSAM on the provision of incentives for the local production of people carriers in South Africa.

Where SKD assembly saw the body being imported as a fully assembled and painted unit, CKD assembly saw the importation of body panels, which were then welded together. The Ses’fikile was also now painted at the Durban facility, said TSAM Quantum VP Bruce Avern Taplin.

Local components also increased from 46 components, to 107 components, noted Pather.

Newly localised parts included roof linings, instrumentation panels, wire harnesses, starters, batteries, glass and exhaust systems.

Component suppliers invested R95-million in the Ses’fikile CKD plant project.

The upgrading of the plant created 260 new jobs on the assembly line, and 165 jobs at the parts supplier level.

Yearly capacity was currently around 9 600 units a year, noted Pather.

Owing to market demand, TSAM was investigating increasing this through process and shift optimisation.

Minister of Trade and Industry Dr Rob Davies said at the event that TSAM was one of three companies making use of government’s people-carrier automotive investment scheme, which kicked off in 2012, and which could see vehicle manufacturers receive a non-taxable cash grant of up to 35% of their qualifying investments in productive assets, compared with the maximum of 30% available to passenger car and bakkie assemblers.

Davies said the people carrier scheme, aimed at public transport vehicles, had, to date, paid out R158-million in grants, creating 680 direct jobs.

Toyota was, “by far”, the biggest recipient in the scheme.

TSAM president and CEO Dr Johan van Zyl noted that the people-carrier scheme had ensure the financial viability of the Ses’fikile project.

He said TSAM was investigating the possibility of exporting the Ses’fikile to the rest of Africa, pending the conclusion of expanded trade agreements on the continent.

The Ses’fikile was already exported to South Africa’s neighbours, such as Nambia, Lesotho and Botswana.

Edited by Creamer Media Reporter

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