In April 2005, General Motors awarded its South African arm a contract worth US$3-billion (around R18-billion) to manufacture a new global version of its Hummer sports utility vehicle - the H3 - for export to markets in Europe, Asia Pacific, the Middle East and Africa.
GM said it would make a US$100-million investment in product development and production at General Motors South Africa's plant in Port Elizabeth in the Eastern Cape, which currently manufactures Opel and Isuzu vehicles. This is over and above the $50-million that GMSA invested in plant and equipment upgrades and the $80-million it invested in the new Isuzu KB in 2004.
Then in May 2005, Toyota South Africa announced an increased export drive that will see the company continuing its Corolla export programme to Australia - and also exporting a new light commercial vehicle and sports utility vehicle to Europe and Africa as part of Toyota's global IMV (innovative international multipurpose vehicle) project.
Soon after Toyota's announcement, Volkswagen South Africa announced that it would start building trucks and buses, possibly for export to Africa and other parts of the world.
In 2004, Volkswagen SA announced a R25-billion export programme that will see the company exporting about 2 300 of its new Golf 5 cars each month through 2009, mostly to Japan and Australia, but also to New Zealand, Brunei, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Hong Kong, Indonesia and Malaysia.
Other announcements by car manufacturers in 2004:
• Ford announced that it would be investing R1-billion in starting a local export programme. The company said this would involve doubling production capacity at its Pretoria plant to about 80 000 units a year.
• DaimlerChrysler confirmed that the new Mercedes-Benz C-Class would be manufactured in SA from 2007. The company plans to almost double production at its East London plant to roll out up to 80 000 units a year, a large portion of which will be exported.
• Nissan announced that it would begin exporting fully built-up Hardbody one-ton bakkies to Europe, Singapore, Australia and New Zealand from August 2005.
• Tata Motors, India's second-largest car manufacturer, invested some R40-million in a bus assembly factory in Johannesburg.
