The Coega FAW plant
Photo by: Duane Daws
FAW South Africa (FAW SA), a subsidiary of China’s FAW Group, has established a joint venture with the Pamodzi Group, focusing on truck sales in South Africa and other countries in sub-Equatorial Africa.
The new company, Pamodzi-FAW, is 51% held by Pamodzi and 49% held by FAW SA.
“We see Pamodzi-FAW as a total business partnership and not a black economic-empowerment venture,” says Pamodzi–FAW chairperson Ndaba Ntsele.
Ntsele played a pivotal role in setting up the Pamodzi Group in 1979, which now hosts a range of businesses.
“We view Pamodzi-FAW as an important building brick aligned to government imperatives that prioritise localisation, as well as industrialisation, which are key when addressing issues such as skills transfer, employment and poverty alleviation,” he states.
FAW assembles trucks in the Eastern Cape, at a new $60-million plant opened earlier this year.
Pamodzi–FAW SA will not set up dealerships, but will be tasked with dealing directly with government departments, parastatals, and private businesses in South Africa, as well countries north of the border, including Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Zambia, Namibia and Angola.
“We are very pleased to have been able to conclude the deal to form a company with a respected and established group such as Pamodzi, and we are looking forward to the positive benefits which we see flowing from this new undertaking,” says FAW SA CEO Yusheng Zhang.
“We believe that Pamodzi-FAW is in a good position to be a major supplier of military vehicles in sub-Saharan Africa, as we have 30 FAW dealerships in the region offering sales and service, or service only,” adds Zhang.
“They are backed up by a parts warehouse in Spartan with almost R80-million in stock, with parts hubs in Cape Town and Durban.”