Italian capital goods company CNH Industrial on Thursday announced the upcoming inauguration of its first assembly plant in South Africa.

The announcement was made by newly appointed CNH Industrial Southern Africa senior VP Mario Gasparri. CNH Industrial is the main manufacturing sponsor of the yearly South Africa – Italy Summit, taking place in Cape Town, this week.

CNH Industrial’s 12 brands include New Holland and Iveco.

The Western Cape event gathers political and business leaders from Italy and South Africa, with the objective of strengthening strategic relationships between the two countries, while also promoting new development opportunities.

The new commercial vehicle plant, in Rosslyn, near Pretoria, will assemble medium, heavy-duty and extra-heavy duty trucks, as well as front-engine and low-floor city buses.

The site will be able to produce up to 6 000 trucks and 1 000 buses a year for the local and export markets.

The site will initially build Iveco’s new Eurocargo medium capacity truck for the South African market, as well as other right-hand-drive markets.

Close to 1 000 South African employees will be recruited for the new plant.

“Our plant in Rosslyn will act as a gateway to Africa. We see significant potential for growth in the economies of sub-Saharan Africa, particularly for large infrastructure projects,” noted Gasparri in an earlier statement, released upon his appointment.

“We have high ambitions which we are serious about achieving. We have already noticed changes and improvements and we expect to grow our volumes and market share.”

Prior to Gasparri’s local appointment, he was the brand president of CNH Industrial Construction Equipment.

CNH said his appointment “signals a long-term commitment, not only to South Africa, but to the continent as a whole, which the company has identified as an important growth market”.

Iveco sold 92 new trucks and vans in South Africa in September, and exported 28 units.