Name of the Project
Toyota South Africa Motors (TSAM) investment programme.

Location
Prospecton, in KwaZulu-Natal, and Gauteng, South Africa.

Project Owner/s
TSAM.

Project Description
TSAM plans to invest R4.28-billion in its local operations until the end of 2020.

The investment will straddle several areas of the local company’s operations.

Most of the investment has been allocated to prepare for the production of a new passenger-car model at the Prospecton plant. The new vehicle will replace the Corolla production line, which is due to come to an end this year. The new vehicle will include a Toyota hybrid synergy drive model. The production of the Corolla Quest will continue.

Other investments include upgrades to the local production of the Hiace Ses’fikile minibus, as well as an increase in production volume of this model from 14 000 to 18 000.

A packing plant will also be established to support knock-down production of the Hilux bakkie in Kenya.

TSAM also plans to double the size of its Atlas warehouse, in Gauteng, from 40 000 m² to 80 000 m². When completed, the facility will be the largest automotive parts warehouse in the southern hemisphere.

The carmaker also has a number of ongoing projects, which include investment in the production of the new Corolla Quest model and several facilities upgrades at the plant.

Potential Job Creation
The proposed production of the new passenger-car is expected to create about 1 500 jobs, of which 500 will be at TSAM and 1 000 with suppliers.                                                                

Upgrades to the local production of the Hiace Ses’fikile minibus is expected to create 270 new jobs.

Capital Expenditure
Preparations for the production of the new passenger-car model at the Prospecton plant are expected to cost R2.43-billion.

Upgrades to the local production of the Hiace Ses’fikile minibus are expected to cost about R454-million. A further R91-million will be spent to increase production from 14 000 to 18 000 units a year and R20-million to establish the packing plant.

The construction of the warehouse is expected to cost about R365-million.

About R18-million will be invested in the production of the new Corolla Quest and R928-million for facilities upgrades.

Planned Start/End Date
The production of the proposed new passenger-car model at the Prospecton plant is expected to start in October 2021.

The packing plant is expected to be completed in 2021.

The investment in the new Corolla quest and upgrades at the plant are expected to be completed this year.

Latest Developments
TSAM is advancing its three big investment projects, despite the Covid-19 pandemic, TSAM president and CEO Andrew Kirby has said. 

“Largely we have been able to protect and secure all our big projects that were originally planned in 2019, despite the fact that we are going through this very tough environment at the moment.

“When the lockdown started, we had to make some decisions around how to structure our business for this new environment. But, we also made sure that we didn’t impact too significantly  on any of the big projects that we thought were fundamental to growing our business and establishing a secure and sustainable future.”

Kirby has said that the R365-million investment in the expansion of TSAM’s Kempton Park parts warehouse has had a slight delay, owing to the construction industry shutting down over the previous lockdown periods, with the project on track go live by mid-2021.

The project to increase the production volume of the Hiace Ses’fikile minibus at the company’s Durban plant is also progressing and is expected to start production in mid-November.

TSAM’s project at its Prospecton is also still going ahead, despite some “significant challenges”, especially during the initial months of lockdown, as tooling, sourced from China, had difficulty in finding its way to South Africa, Kirby has said.

TSAM also needed hands-on specialists from abroad to assist with the installation of some advanced technologies at the plant.

The company has worked to offset international travel restrictions through virtual solutions, but still requires the team to travel to South Africa.

“As long as we can have that team here by December or January, we should be on track to launch that vehicle in the fourth quarter of 2021,” Kirby has said.

Key Contracts and Suppliers
None stated.

Contact Details for Project Information
TSAM, tel +27 11 809 9111.