Hyundai Automotive South Africa (HASA) hopes to assemble the new Santa Cruz pick-up in South Africa from 2020.
HASA marketing director Stanley Anderson says the local distributor is “working very hard” to convince the Korean manufacturer to assem-ble the bakkie range here in South Africa from completely knockdown (CKD) kits.
The proposed East London multimodel plant could serve as a possible production location, or HASA could make use of a standalone facility, he notes.
Anderson says HASA would require yearly volumes of around 30 000 units to reap suffic-ient financial benefits from government’s Automotive Production and Development Programme.
Around 5 000 units would be for the local mar- ket, with 25 000 units destined for the export market.
“South Africa is bakkie country. The country is a significant global production base for pick-ups, with an extensive and experienced supplier base,” says Anderson. “It makes sense to assemble the bakkie here.”
He says it is “difficult to know” whether Hyundai will give the CKD project the green light.
“We do need to know before the end of the year.”
The Hyundai Santa Cruz was first revealed in concept form in 2015.
HASA is owned by the JSE-listed Imperial group.