R350-m VWSA export contract gets into top gear

Ed Richardson UITENHAGE-BASED Volkswagen South Africa has begun delivering components for two export contracts worth around R350 million a year. This is in addition to the 30 000 fully built vehicles that are currently being exported to Europe and the Far East each year. The automotive manufacturer will be exporting 200000 diesel catalytic converters each year for a light commercial vehicle being assembled in Hanover, Germany. The export order is for the lifespan of the vehicle. In addition Volkswagen South Africa is also making 25000 wheel arches and “long members” a year to be exported to Chang Chung, China for use on Jetta 4 models. Volkswagen South Africa managing director Hans-Christian Maergner said that this additional export business would boost the company’s component export values to more than R2 billion rand this year. The new contracts have secured 44 jobs, according to Maergner. Current exports from South Africa to the Volkswagen group include catalytic converters, leather seating sets, wiring harnesses, alloy wheels and electronic control units. Volkswagen’s announcement comes as the National Association of Automobile Manufacturers of South Africa reports a decline in vehicle exports from South Africa. Exports of new vehicles during May, 2003 - the latest month in terms of available export statistics - registered marginal declines. Year to date aggregate exports of vehicles for the past five months of 2003 were 5,9% below the vehicle exports recorded during the corresponding period last year, reports Naamsa. Between January and May South Africa exported 45368 cars, 5 184 light commercials and 191 medium and heavy commercials. There was an 11% increase in the number of light commercials exported compared to the same period last year.