COMPANIES
General Motors SA gets R18bn contract
Posted Thu, 07 Apr 2005
General Motors South Africa (GM SA) has been awarded an R18-billion contract to manufacture and export the US designed Hummer H3 vehicle, the company said on Wednesday.
"Vehicle export programmes ...are a fundamental requirement for operating in South Africa," Ian Nichols, planning director for GM SA, told reporters.
Production of the Hummer H3 2006 model would commence in the fourth quarter of 2006 at the Struandale plant in PE. The facility currently produces Opel and Isuzu products.
The South African operation would produce right hand vehicles for the British, New Zealand, Australian and South African markets, while left-hand vehicles would be exported to Europe, the Middle East and Asia.
"Over the next three to four years when we are fully ramped up we will be able to produce 10 000 H3's per annum," said Nichols.
The contract would run from 2006 to 2012. It would create 450 jobs.
Initially, GM SA would source supplies from overseas, but
later it planned to source parts locally.
Hadi El-Khouri, H3 vehicle line director, said a team had studied which product would be best for export from South Africa and decided on the H3.
Susan Docherty, general manager of Hummer, said in the last two years there had been a significant interest from the international community in buying the Hummer.
Originally designed for the United States military, the High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle or "Humvee" was built to go almost anywhere and do almost anything, Docherty said.
In 1992 the Humvee was adopted for civilian use, as the Hummer H1.
It was then adapted as a more modern and comfortable H2 model. The H3 is the latest variant.
The vehicle has been sold mainly in the US and Canada.
The vehicle would be available in the South African market from mid 2007.
The US would continue to produce Hummer H3 which would be destined for North America, Europe and the Middle East.
GM
returned to South Africa just over a year ago.
It had already invested R380-million into its South African operation, said Robert Socia, president and managing director of GM SA.
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