Mahindra South Africa (MSA) is still positive about local assembly, but when this will happen is “difficult to answer”, says CEO Ashok Thakur.

“We have already done all the tests and trial assembly,” he notes.

However, Thakur says it will be prudent to wait for the South African new-vehicle market to pick up to prerecession levels before taking the plunge on local assembly. He adds that he would also like to see a stabilisation in policy, as well as clarity on new incentives, as government this year changes over from the Motor Industry Development Programme to the Automotive Production and Development Programme.

As to what route MSA will follow with regard to local assembly, Thakur says there is spare production capacity available at existing plants in South Africa, while he also confirms that the local arm of the Indian manufacturer has had talks with the developers of the proposed East London multimodel assembly plant.

Mahindra & Mahindra automotive and farm equipment international operations CEO Ruzbeh Irani adds that MSA is currently only responsible for right-hand-drive markets in Southern Africa, but that this could expand to the 40-plus countries in the sub-Saharan Africa region, once MSA operations “reach a stable state” in South Africa.

“There is enough potential here in South Africa to focus on this market for the moment.”

Mahindra sold around 8 000 vehicles in Africa last year, with 4 105 of these in South Africa. The 2012 newcomer to the Mahindra stable, SsangYong, added around 800 units to the local number, or between 15% to 17% of sales.

Korea-based manufacturer SsangYong sold around 4 800 vehicles in Africa last year, and hoped to grow this to 10 000 by 2016, says SsangYong marketing and sales VP Johng-Sik Choi.

Globally the brand aims to grow from selling 120 000 vehicles in 2012 to 150 000 this year, and 310 000 units by 2016.

MSA plans to increase South African sales by around 50% this year, says Thakur, adding to the 102% growth achieved in 2012.

Thakur is positive SsangYong, as a premium Korean SUV brand, can match Mahindra sales in South Africa in the next two years, and then grow to 5 000 units over the “next few years”.

Globally, Mahindra and SsangYong were working on developing two joint SUV platforms, with each led by either manufacturer. This followed the announcement of an investment programme of R700-million by new SsangYong owner Mahindra to increase production capacity and to develop new products.

However, said Irani, both platforms would see the production of Mahindra as well as SsangYong vehicles.

He expects to see the results of the joint development in the next three years.

Future product planning involved the introduction of four new SsangYong models by 2016.