To produce Datsun vehicles in South Africa required sufficient volume, global competitiveness and predictability, said Datsun global head Vincent Cobee on Tuesday.
South Africa, however, currently fell short in terms of predictability, especially in its labour situation, as well as in manufacturing competitiveness.
“If I am to convince my bosses to invest in South Africa I need a strong case. Today, that is not there.”
Datsun is Nissan’s new low-cost brand targeting developing countries, with the Datsun Go to launch locally in the last quarter of the year. Pricing for the small Indian-made hatchback is expected to be under R100 000.
Cobee launched the brand – popular in the seventies and eighties and now reinvented for a new generation of car buyers – in Johannesburg.
“We are obviously extremely interested in making Datsun in South Africa, but maybe not this car,” said Cobee to Engineering News Online in Johannesburg.
He believed the necessary sales volumes were available to the Datsun brand in South Africa and sub-Saharan Africa, but that South Africa would struggle to produce the Datsun Go competitively, especially compared with India.
“This would be the right place to make the car if certain [sales] volumes could be reached,” said Cobee. “But, in South Africa, competitiveness is a challenge.”
He added that labour volatility did not help either.
“Spending seven weeks not making cars does not help.”
South Africa’s automotive industry last year suffered a seven- to eight-week strike owing to protracted labour negotiations.
Cobee said government, the Nissan plant, labour and the local automotive industry all needed to work towards a common objective of making South Africa a manufacturing “place of choice”.