Govt backs South Africa's auto sector
1 July 2009
The government views South Africa's vehicle manufacturing industry as "strategic" and will continue supporting it, while steering it more towards the manufacture of components and commercial vehicles, says Trade and Industry Minister Rob Davies.
Briefing journalists in Cape Town ahead of the debate on his department's budget vote in Parliament on Tuesday, Davies said the government sought to influence the direction South Africa's auto sector took.
Davies was responding to a question on why the government was continuing to support the motor industry given the trouble it was experiencing in the face of falling demand for vehicles.
"I think that the auto industry has got some very, very important linkages to other industrial sectors, and we need to preserve that capacity," he said.
Sectors supplying goods to auto manufacturers included the leather, steel and glass industries, and many engineering industries.
"The auto industry is connected with many value chains in the economy, so it's strategic ... we need to preserve the existing capacity.
"But our objectives, in terms of direction, are to emphasise the more labour-absorbing, components-manufacturing industry, and also ... to take the automotive programme in the direction of heavy and commercial vehicles," Davies said.
"We're having a major public transport upgrade in this country. We want to make sure that we are producing the vehicles that will take people on bus rapid transit systems and so on.
"We want to make sure that ... an increasing proportion of [commercial vehicles] are manufactured in South Africa.
"It's not just we're preserving something in its current form; we want to influence its direction."
Sapa
