General Motors has announced its shocking withdrawal from the South African market. The American auto-giant plans to stop building and selling Chevrolet vehicles in South Africa by the end of 2017.
After a 13-year South African venture, the 18th of May 2017 has seen GM place it’s gear in reverse and phasing out manufacturing in South Africa over the next couple of months. Over a decade ago, General Motors, who had taken control over Delta Motor Corporation, had launched multinational brands such as Chevrolet Ute and Spark, Cadillac, Hummer, Isuzu and Opel.
According to an exclusive report by cars.co.za, MD of General Motors South Africa has revealed that, “the firm is adopting a more efficient structure to allow it to focus on its core business of building and selling vehicles and also investing heavily in defining the future of personal mobility.”
The exclusive report also states that GM’s pull out is further based on a global assessment, where the results indicated that investing in South African production, would not meet the return goal desired by GM’s global business strategy.
Thanks to loyal KB customers, Isuzu is here to stay.
With General Motors South Africa distributing high volumes of KB Bakkies, the Japanese giant has recognized a large market for KB products in South Africa. Thanks to loyal customers of the KB Bakkie, South Africa will continue to be the manufacturing base which will also supply the rest of Africa.
Isuzu also plans to take headlight in its future. The brand starts its engines with big aims to:
- Establish a national dealership network to market its heavy motor vehicles and LCVs in the country’s market.
- Purchase 30% of shareholdings that are currently held by GMSA in SA Isuzu Trucks.
- Take over the GMSA parts distribution and conversion centre in Coega.
What about my Opel?
GM had assured consumers that the beloved ‘Chevvy’ and Opel will continue to be supported in the auto-market. But, is Opel a worthy brand to be considered for market opportunities within the SA market? Apparently, Peugeot thinks so. Opel has been recently sold to Peugeot Citroën, however, the German brand is still ‘driving on the edge’, as sale plans are still to be finalised.
GMSA currently holds an agreement to distribute the Opel until the end of 2017.
What’s in it for Chevvy?
Just as with Opel, GMSA will cease manufacturing and distribution of the Chevrolet by the end of this year, to drive focus on more profitably investments. However, supply in Chevvy parts and customer service will be continue for existing customers.
Despite GM’s pull out of the South African market, GM has sealed an agreement of parts supply in SA markets for at least 10 years.
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The above information was retrieved from cars.co.za and IOL.